and bring them all to bear on me at once; let them do their worst—­they shall not gain one concession from me; not one smile, not one word, not one single look of tolerance—­so help me heaven!  And they know it, mother!—­they know it!  And why?  You are secured from their malice; now they can turn no screws upon my heart-strings!—­and I am free!  They know it, mother—­they know it, if you do not.”

“But, Jacquelina, this is a very, very wicked life to lead!  You are living in a state of mortal sin while you persist in this shocking rebellion against the authority and just rights of your husband.”

“He is not my husband! that I utterly deny!  I have never made him such!  There was nothing in our nominal marriage to give him that claim.  It was a mere legal form, for a mercenary purpose.  It was a wicked and shameful subterfuge; a sacrilegious desecration of God’s holy altar! but in its wickedness heaven knows I had little will!  I was deluded and disturbed; facts were misrepresented to me, threats were made that could never have been executed; my fears were excited for your life; my affections were wrought upon; I was driven out of my senses even before I did consent to be his nominal wife—­the legal sumpter-mule to carry him an estate.  I promised nothing more, and I have kept all my promises.  It is over! it is over! it is done! and it cannot be undone!  But I never—­never will forgive that man for the part he played in the drama!”

“Ave Maria, Mater Dolorosa! Was ever a mother so sorrowful as I?  Holy saints and angels! how you shock me.  Don’t you know, wretched child, that you are committing deadly sin?  Don’t you know, alas! the holy church would refuse you its communion?”

“Let it!  I will be excommunicated before I will give Dr. Grimshaw one tolerant glance!  I will risk the eternal rather than fall into the nearer perdition!”

“Holy Mary save her!  Don’t you know, most miserable child! that such is your condition, that if you were to die now your soul would go to burning flames?”

“Ha! ha!  Where do you think it is now, Mimmy?”

“You are mad!  You don’t know what you’re talking about!  And, alas! you are half an infidel, I know, for you don’t believe in hell!”

“Yes, I do, Mimmy!  Oh! yes, indeed I do!  If ever my faith was shaken in that article of belief, it is firm enough now!  It is more than re-established, for, look you, Mimmy!  I believe in heaven, but I know of hell!”

“I’m very glad you do, my dear.  And I hope you will meditate much upon it, and it may lead you to change your course in regard to Dr. Grimshaw.”

“Mimmy!” she said, with a wild laugh, “is there a deeper pit in perdition than that to which you urge me now?”

* * * * *

Fortune certainly favored the lovers that day; for when Thurston reached home in the evening, his grandfather said to him: 

“Well, Mr. Jackanapes, since you are to sail from the port of Baltimore, I think it altogether best that you should take a private conveyance, and go by way of Washington.”