“I did not speak of leaving him,” said Mrs. Dexter, looking up strangely into the face of Mrs. De Lisle.

“But you have thought of it,” was answered.  A flush dyed the pale face of Mrs. Dexter.  “Oh, my friend, beware of evil counsellors!  Mrs. Anthony”—­

“Has never looked into my heart.  It is shut and fastened with clasps of iron when she is near,” returned Mrs. Dexter.

“The presence of such a woman suggests rebellion,” said Mrs. De Lisle; “her thoughts are communicated by another way than speech.  Is it not so?”

“Perhaps it is.  I feel the spirit of antagonism rising whenever I am with her.  I grow restive—­impatient of these bonds—­indignant towards my husband; though the subject is never mentioned.”

“Be on your guard against her, my young friend.  Her principles are not religiously sound.  This I say to you, because duty requires me to say it.  Placed in your position, and with your feelings towards her husband, if no personal and selfish consideration came in to restrain her, she would not hesitate at separation—­nay, I fear, not even at a guilty compact with another.”

“You shock me!” said Mrs. Dexter.

“I speak to you my real sentiments; and in warning.  In your present state of mind, be very reserved towards her.  You are not strong enough to meet her quick intelligence, nor able to guard yourself against her subtle insinuations.  When was she here last?”

A sudden thought prompted the question.

“She left just before you came in,” answered Mrs. Dexter.

“And your mind has been disturbed, not tranquillized, by her visit?”

“I am disturbed, as you see.”

“On what subject did she speak?” asked Mrs. De Lisle.

“You know her usual theme?”

“Inharmonious marriages?”

“Yes.”

“I do not wonder that you were disturbed.  How could it be otherwise?”

“She gives utterance to many truths,” said Mrs. Dexter.

“But even truth may be so spoken as to have all the evil effect of error,” was promptly answered.

“Can truth ever do harm?  Is it not the mind’s light?  Truth shows us the way in which we may walk safely,” said Mrs. Dexter, with some earnestness of manner.

“Light, by which the eye sees, will become a minister of destruction, if the eye is inflamed.  A mind diseased cannot bear strong gleams of truth.  They will blind and deceive, rather than illustrate.  The rays must be softened.  Of the many truths to which Mrs. Anthony gave utterance this morning, which most affected your mind?”

“She spoke,” said Mrs. Dexter, after a little reflection, “of natural affinities and repulsions, which take on sometimes the extreme condition of idiosyncrasies.  Of conjunctions of soul in true marriages, and of disjunction and disgust where no true marriage exists.”

“Did she explain what she understood by a true marriage?” asked Mrs. De Lisle.