he possessed, and, finally, that having found means of raising money upon the security of the whole fortune to which I was entitled, he had lost that too, and consequently we remained penniless.  This much I heard with indifference; the money he received had never benefited me, and had only given him the means for a life you cannot imagine, and which I could not, if I would, describe to you; but when he ended by telling me that, as all my relations were rich, I must contrive to get fresh supplies from some of them, my patience gave way altogether.  Even my fear of him yielded to my anger; for the first time since our arrival in Canada I spoke to him with all the bitterness I felt.  A horrible scene followed—­he threatened to kill me, and I believe would have done it but for the hope of yet obtaining money by my means.  I tried to escape, but could not; and, at last, when he was tired of torturing me, he took off a long red sash which he wore, and tied me to the bed.  There, Lucia, for four-and-twenty hours he kept me a prisoner, standing in a constrained attitude, without rest or food.  How I endured so long without fainting, I do not know; fear of something worse must have given me unnatural strength, for he never left the house, but spent the early part of the day in searching all my cupboards and boxes for money or anything worth money, and the later part in drinking.  Mr. Strafford had gone over to the Canadian shore, or probably, missing me from the school, he would have come in search of me.  Mary did come, but at the sight of my husband, she went away without knowing anything of me.  All night he sat drinking, for he had brought a quantity of whisky home some time before, and towards morning he lay down for a while, but so that I could not move without disturbing him.  After two or three hours’ sleep he got up and went away, leaving me still tied, and telling me I had better think of what he had said, and make up my mind to get money in some way.  When I heard the sound of his paddle, and knew that he was really gone, the force that had sustained me gave way; I fainted, and in falling, the sash happily broke, though not until one of my wrists was badly sprained.  The pain of my wrist brought me back to consciousness.  As soon as I could, I wrapped myself in a shawl and went to Mary’s cottage, to ask her to bandage it for me, and to take my excuses to the school, where I was quite unable to go that day.

“No one, not even Mr. Strafford, knew the cause of my sprained wrist, or the conduct of my husband that day and night, but it was impossible that when such scenes were repeated again and again, they should not become known.  And they were repeated so often and so dreadfully, that only the feeling that I endured the just penalty of my own conduct, enabled me to bear the perpetual suffering.  At last, even Christian saw that I could not live long if I had not some respite.  Perhaps he had a little pity for me; perhaps he only thought still of gain.  At any rate, he became