It was from the other side that the next movement came.  A divorce was applied for on the part of Mrs. Dewey, in a bill carefully drawn up by Mr. Wallingford.  It asked not only for a legal separation from her husband, but for alimony, and the possession of the two remaining children.  An answer was filed; but it was of so feeble a character as to amount to scarcely anything in the way of opposition.  The chief argument was directed against the claim for alimony.  The result was as we had anticipated.  In the following spring a divorce was granted, and Mrs. Dewey, with her two children, left the Allen House and returned to her father’s.  The maintenance allowed by the court, was one thousand dollars a year for herself, and five hundred a year for each of the children during their minority.

And so closed this exciting drama, begun in weakness, and ending in hopeless disaster.  Oh, a few years!  How many broken hearts do they close over?  How many wrecks of goodly lives do they see scattered among the breakers!

The interposition of Mr. Wallingford, in this case, was so managed as to keep him entirely out of sight, and Mrs. Dewey was never made aware of the fact that he had rendered her a great service.

CHAPTER XXIV.

We did not see a great deal of Mr. Dewey in S——­for some months after this.  I heard it casually remarked that he was traveling in the South and West, for a part of the time, on business.  The large interests of his firm involved in the two mills, however, made his presence necessary among us, and late in the fall he came back, and remained through the winter residing at the Allen House.

In the spring a rumor got afloat that Mr. Dewey was soon to be married.  A lady in New York was mentioned; the same, it was said, to whom the letter found by Mrs. Dewey was addressed.  A few signs of renovation at the Allen House gave confirmation of this rumor, which at length assumed a more positive shape.

The intimacy between Mrs. Wallingford and Constance, had grown into a close interior friendship, and scarcely a week passed that an evening was not spent by them together, sometimes at our house, and sometimes at Ivy Cottage.  Mr. Wallingford had developed into a man after my own heart; and so I shared, when professional engagements allowed, in the enjoyment of these pleasant seasons.

One evening Mr. and Mrs. Wallingford came round to spend an hour with us.  I was happily at leisure.  Conversation naturally falls into the current of passing events, and on this occasion, the approaching marriage of Mr. Dewey came naturally into the field of topics.  This led to a review of the many strange circumstances connected with Mrs. Wallingford’s presence in S——­, and naturally, to an inquiry from my wife as to the present position of the property left by Captain Allen.

“What about this young Garcia?” said Constance, addressing Mr. Wallingford.  “I haven’t heard of him for some time.”