“I wish to heaven I had been here!” exclaimed Ellen; “you shouldn’t have gone alone, if I had known anything about it.”

“I think, if you had been here, I should have told you about the letter, for it puzzled me a good deal, and I knew how well I could trust you.  But you were away; and my father’s request was so urgent—­the hour was named—­I could do nothing but accede to it.  So I went, leaving no message for you or for my husband, feeling so sure of my return within an hour or two.”

“And you found your father waiting for you?”

“Yes, on the river-bank, within a short distance of Mr. Whitelaw’s house.  He began by congratulating me on the change in my prospects,—­I was a rich woman, he said.  And then he went on to vilify my husband in such hateful words, Ellen; telling me that I had married a notorious scoundrel and profligate, and that he could produce ample evidence of what he affirmed; and all this with a pretended pity for my weakness and ignorance of the world.  I laughed his shameful slanders to scorn, and told him that I knew my husband too thoroughly to be alarmed even for a moment by such groundless charges.  He still affected to compassionate me as the weakest and most credulous of women, and then came to a proposal which he said he had travelled to Hampshire on purpose to make to me.  It was, that I should leave my husband, and place myself under his protection; that I should go to America with him when he returned there, and so preserve my fortune from the clutches of a villain.  ‘My fortune?’ I said; ’yes, I see that it is that alone you are thinking of.  How can you suppose me so blind as not to understand that?  You had better be candid with me, and say frankly what you want.  I have no doubt my husband will allow me to make any reasonable sacrifice in your favour.’”

“What did he say to that?”

“He laughed bitterly at my offer.  ‘Your husband!’ he said ’I am not likely to see the colour of my father’s money, if you are to be governed by him.’  ‘You do him a great wrong,’ I answered.  ’I am sure that he will act generously, and I shall be governed by him.’”

“He was very angry, I suppose?”

“No doubt of it; but for some time he contrived to suppress all appearance of anger, and urged me to believe his statements about my husband, and to accept his offer of a home and protection with him.  I cannot tell you how plausible his words were—­what an appearance of affection and interest in my welfare he put on.  Then, finding me firm, he changed his tone, and there were hidden threats mixed with his entreaties.  It would be a bad thing for me if I refused to go with him, he said; I would have cause to repent my folly for the rest of my life.  He said a great deal, using every argument it is possible to imagine; and there was always the same threatening under-tone.  He could not move me in the least, as you may fancy, Nell.  I told him that nothing upon earth would induce me to leave my husband, or