Ethel Freeman.
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��VI.
For three years the life of the Free- man's had gone on outwardly the same as before, and yet not just the same, for Ethel had come to be of consequence in society, and was even received with more favor than her husband, who still remained a favor- ite. She had discovered her one tal- ent, and her friends had speedily multiplied it many times for her. In her disappointment and bitter chagrin she had devoted herself to her chil- dren's education ; in their studies she found surcease of sorrow, and to her own surprise developed the love of study in herself. She became fond of research, and then discovered that she was capable of independent thought — not so commonplace an at- tribute in woman as might at first be supposed — and of easy and original expression. She read much and wrote critical reviews of the new
novels. The P people said that
they had discovered that she pos- sessed " a very analytical mind :" once she wrote a political article that they said showed she understood gov- ernment.
But her literary achievements never engrossed her mind ; they were only a resource, never an object, and she had no ambition save for her chil- dren, that were the pride of her heart and the only joy in her life. And such children, so well behaved, so rarely intelligent, and so refined, could not but reflect credit on a moth- er. She retained her housewifelv ways ; her home was a model of com- fort and good order ; she entertained her husband's friends and her own in right royal manner ; and her great beauty became again a power that
��made itself felt. People said, "Mrs. Freeman is really wonderful ; a beau- ty and a genius ; yet one of a practi- cal disposition rarely to be met with, really the greatest versatility of tal- ents."
And so she found peace though not happiness ; but her husband was wretched. It had been his fate since the humiliating disclosure of three years before to love his wife more and more, and all in vain. All smiles and graciousness to others, the wintry wind was not more cold than she to him. Mrs. Hamilton had dis- appeared from the zenith of society and of his admiration ; the very thought of her was hateful to him, and he suffered remorse of conscience as much for Florry's sake as for Ethel's, for at the first he had visited his wrath and displeasure on the li-ttle girl. As she had been her father's best beloved and most petted of the flock, when the weak man called the child a traitor, and accused her of tattling and mischief-making, it near- ly broke her heart. For a long time after, he never noticed her by word or look, shutting her out of the games that he played with the other chil- dren, never taking her to drive or to walk when he took the others, utterly neglecting her, or treating her with contempt. " Papa never notices me now," she complained to her mother day after day, and when at last he would have treated her more kindly, a fear had grown up in the child's heart that shut him out forever.
But he was reaping the whirlwind. For a year Florry had seemed less robust than of old, and at last they knew that she would not" live. None could fathom the mother's sorrow.
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