“It began out of nothing at all.  I had been her adoring slave for three weeks, until I began to be conscious of the most abominable tyranny on her part.  I began to resist this, and we were on the verge of an outbreak when we arrived at the Grange.  The sight of the old hall appeased her for a time, but finally the novelty wore off, and her evil passions burst out.  Naturally enough, my first blind adoration passed away, and I began to take my proper position toward her; that is to say, I undertook to give her some advice, which she very sorely needed.  This was the signal for a most furious outbreak.  What was worse, her outbreak took place before the servants.  Of course I could do nothing under such circumstances, so I left the room.  When I saw her again she was sullen and vicious.  I attempted a reconciliation, and kneeling down I passed my arms caressingly around her.  ‘Look here,’ said I, ’my own poor little darling, if I’ve done wrong, I’m sorry, and—­’

“Well, what do you think my lady did?”

“I don’t know.”

“She kicked me! that’s all; she kicked me, just as I was apologizing to her—­just as I was trying to make it up.  She kicked me! when I had done nothing, and she alone had been to blame.  What’s more, her boots were rather heavy, and that kick made itself felt unmistakably.

“I at once arose, and left her without a word.  I did not speak to her then for some time.  I used to pass her in the house without looking at her.  This galled her terribly.  She made the house too hot for the servants, and I used to hear her all day long scolding them in a loud shrill voice, till the sound of that voice became horrible to me.

“You must not suppose, however, that I became alienated all at once.  That was impossible.  I loved her very dearly.  After she had kicked me away my love still lasted.  It was a galling thought to a man like me that she, a common girl, the daughter of a small tradesman, should have kicked me; me, the descendant of Crusaders, by Jove! and of the best blood in England; but after a while pride gave way to love, and I tried to open the way for a reconciliation once or twice.  I attempted to address her in her calmer moods, but it was without any success.  She would not answer me at all.  If servants were in the room she would at once proceed to give orders to them, just as though I had not spoken.  She showed a horrible malignancy in trying to dismiss the older servants, whom she knew to be favorites of mine.  Of course I would not let her do it.

“Well, one day I found that this sort of life was intolerable, and I made an effort to put an end to it all.  My love was not all gone yet, and I began to think that I had been to blame.  She had always been indulged, and I ought to have kept up the system a little longer, and let her down more gradually.  I thought of her as I first saw her in the glory of her youthful beauty on the Calais boat, and softened my heart till I began to long for