He stamped, and his eyes shot anger.

“What do you take me for?  Do you suppose I shall consent to give you up for money?  Tell me what J have asked.  Does that man know your history?”

“Of course he knows it—­everything.”

“And he thinks I shall never succeed in finding you out!  Well, he is mistaken, you see—­things of this kind are always found out, as you and he might have known.  You can’t do wrong and live all your life as if you were innocent.”

The admonition came rather inappropriately from him, but it shook Lilian in spite of her better sense.

“It can’t be changed,” she exclaimed.  “It can’t be undone.”

“That’s all nonsense!”

“I will die rather than leave him!”

Hot jealousy began to rage in him.  He was not a man of vehement passions, but penal servitude had wrought the natural effect upon his appetites.  The egotism of a conceited disposition tended to the same result.  He swore within himself a fierce oath that, come what might, this woman should be his.  She contrasted him with her wealthy lover, despised him; but right and authority were on his side.

“Leave him you must—­and shall so there’s plain speaking!  You will never go into that house again.”

Lilian turned as if to flee from him.  No one was within sight; and how could she have appealed to any one for help?  In the distance she saw the roof of Mrs. Wade’s cottage; it allayed her despair for the moment.  There, at all events, was a friend who would intervene for her, a strong and noble-minded woman, capable of offering the best counsel, of acting with decision.  Vain now to think of hiding her secret from that friend—­and who could he more safely trusted with it?

But she still had the resource of entreaty.

“You talk of right and wrong—­is it right to be merciless?  What can I ever be to you?  Would you take me away by force, and compel me to live with you?  I have told yen I would die rather.  When you think of everything, have you no pity for me?  Whatever you intended, wasn’t our marriage a terrible injustice to me?  Oughtn’t you to give a thought to that?”

“You are living an immoral life,” replied Northway, with tremulous emphasis.  “I could hold you. up to shame.  No, I don’t ask you to come and live with me at once; I don’t expect that.  But you must leave that man, and live a respectable life, and—­then in time I shall forgive you, instead of disgracing you in the divorce court.  I ask only what is right.  You used to be religious”——­

“Oh, how can you talk to me like that!  If you really think me wicked and disgraced, leave me to my own conscience!  Have you no sins that ask for forgiveness?”

“It isn’t for you to speak of them,” he retorted, with imbecile circling.  “All I know is that you are my wife by law, and it is my duty to save you from this position.  I sha’n’t let you go back.  If you resist my authority, I shall explain everything to any one who asks, that’s all.—­Who was that lady you were talking to?”