THE GIRL THAT DISAPPEARS
life.
These tales multiplied until the mind of the young woman became saturated with terror. Yet when her husband made his first dreadful proposals to her she still retained strength of character to refuse to play the part he assigned her. He did not try to force her into a life of immorality but his treatment of her became cruel in the extreme.
This lasted for perhaps a fortnight, at the end of which time she was in a state of desperate fear. Then the man's cruelty ceased and he became kind and attentive once more. He begged her forgiveness for past harshness and suggested to her that they live on terms of mutual kindness and forbearance. The nature of the forbearance, as far as the girl was concerned, was apparent to her, but rather than face again the period of cruelty and abuse she consented to the immorality he had proposed for her in the beginning. Anything seemed to her better than the misery in
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