As he thought of it all it seemed to him that if she would not obey him, and give him this promise, they must be separated.  He would not live with her, he would not give her the privileges of his wife, if she refused to render to him the obedience which was his privilege.  The more he thought of it, the more convinced he was that he ought not to yield to her.  Let her once yield to him, and then his tenderness should begin, and there should be no limit to it.  But he would not see her till she had yielded.  He would not see her; and if he should find that she did see Colonel Osborne, then he would tell her that she could no longer dwell under the same roof with him.

His resolution on these points was very strong, and yet there came over him a feeling that it was his duty to be gentle.  There was a feeling also that that privilege of receiving obedience, which was so indubitably his own, could only be maintained by certain wise practices on his part in which gentleness must predominate.  Wives are bound to obey their husbands, but obedience cannot be exacted from wives, as it may from servants, by aid of law and with penalties, or as from a horse, by punishments, and manger curtailments.  A man should be master in his own house, but he should make his mastery palatable, equitable, smooth, soft to the touch, a thing almost unfelt.  How was he to do all this now, when he had already given an order to which obedience had been refused unless under certain stipulations an agreement with which would be degradation to him?  He had pointed out to his wife her duty, and she had said she would do her duty as pointed out, on condition that he would beg her pardon for having pointed it out!  This he could not and would not do.  Let the heavens fall, and the falling of the heavens in this case was a separation between him and his wife, but he would not consent to such injustice as that!

But what was he to do at this moment especially with reference to that note which he had destroyed.  At last he resolved to write to his wife, and he consequently did write and send to her the following letter: 

Dearest Emily,

May 4.

If Colonel Osborne should write to you again, it will be better that you should not open his letter.  As you know his handwriting you will have no difficulty in so arranging.  Should any further letter come from Colonel Osborne addressed to you, you had better put it under cover to me, and take no notice of it yourself.

I shall dine at the club today.  We were to have gone to Mrs Peacock’s in the evening.  You had better write a line to say that we shall not be there.  I am very sorry that Nora should lose her evening.  Pray think very carefully over what I have asked of you.  My request to you is, that you shall give me a promise that you will not willingly see Colonel Osborne again.  Of course you will understand that this is not supposed to extend to accidental meetings, as to which, should they occur, and they would be sure to occur, you would find that they would be wholly unnoticed by me.