Lane of his error; but to no good effect.  As soon as all doubt was removed from the mind of the latter in regard to where his wife had gone, and touching the spirit which governed her in her separation from him, his natural pride and self-esteem—­self-respect, he called it—­came back into full activity.  No, he would never humble himself to a woman!  That was the unalterable state of his mind.  If Amanda would return, and assume her old place and her old relation, he would forget and forgive all.  This far he would go, and no farther.  She had left of her own free will, and that must bring her back.

“You can say all this to her in any way you please; but I will not seek her and enter into an humble supplication for her return.  I have too much self-respect—­and am too much of a man—­for that.  If she finds the struggle to do so hard and humiliating, she will be the more careful how she places herself again in such a position.  The lesson will last her a life-time.”

“You are wrong; depend upon it, you are wrong!” urged Mr. Edmondson.  “There must be yielding and conciliation on both sides.”

“I can do no more than I have said.  Passive I have been from the first, and passive I will remain.  As for our child, I wish you to say to her, that I shall not consent to a separation.  It is my child as much as hers; moreover, as father, my responsibility is greatest, and I am not the man to delegate my duties to another.  Possession of the child, if driven to that extremity, I will obtain through aid of the law.  This I desire that she shall distinctly understand.  I make no threat.  I do not wish her to view the declaration in that light.  I affirm only the truth, that she may clearly understand all the consequences likely to flow from her ill-advised step.”

The more Mr. Edmondson sought to convince Mr. Lane of his error, the more determinedly did he cling to it; and he retired at last, under the sad conviction that the unhappy couple had seen but the beginning of troubles.

Alone with his own thoughts, an hour had not elapsed before Mr. Lane half repented of his conduct in taking so unyielding a position.  A conviction forced itself upon his mind that he had gone too far and was asking too much; and he wished that he had not been quite so exacting in his declarations to Mr. Edmondson.  But, having made them, his false pride of consistency prompted him to adhere to what he had said.

The night passed in broken and troubled sleep; and morning found him supremely wretched.  Yet resentment still formed a part of Mr. Lane’s feelings.  He was angry with his wife, whom he had driven from his side, and was in no mood to bend in order to effect a reconciliation.  At mid-day he returned from his business, hoping to find her at home.  But his house was still desolate.  With the evening he confidently expected her, but she was not there.  Anxiously he sat, hour after hour, looking for another visit from Mr. Edmondson, but he came not again.