usually attaches itself to the husband, it was the gallant and the wife that would have appeared to the beholder in a humiliating and unenviable light.
After a momentary pause, Welford approached with a heavy step,—the wife started;—but with a bland and smooth expression, which since his sojourn in the town of had been rarely visible in his aspect, the host joined the pair—smiled on the nurse, and congratulated the patient on his progress towards recovery. The nobleman, well learned in the usages of the world, replied easily and gaily; and the conversation flowed on cheerfully enough, till the wife, who had sat abstracted and apart, stealing ever and anon timid glances towards her husband, and looks of a softer meaning towards the patient, retired from the room. Welford then gave a turn to the conversation: he reminded the nobleman of the pleasant days they had passed in Italy—of the adventures they had shared, and the intrigues they had enjoyed; as the conversation warmed, it assumed a more free and licentious turn; and not a little, we ween, would the good folks of have been amazed could they have listened to the gay
