‘Of course I will listen to you, my dear.’

’I have never refused to obey my husband, and I do not refuse now.  The gentleman of whom you have been speaking is an old friend of my father’s, and has become my friend.  Nevertheless, had Mr Trevelyan given me any plain order about him, I should have obeyed him.  A wife does not feel that her chances of happiness are increased when she finds that her husband suspects her of being too intimate with another man.  It is a thing very hard to bear.  But I would have endeavoured to bear it, knowing how important it is for both our sakes, and more especially for our child.  I would have made excuses, and would have endeavoured to think that this horrid feeling on his part is nothing more than a short delusion.’

‘But, my dear—­’

’I must ask you to hear me out, Lady Milborough.  But when he tells me first that I am not to meet the man, and so instructs the servants; then tells me that I am to meet him, and go on just as I was going before, and then again tells me that I am not to see him, and again instructs the servants and, above all, the cook that Colonel Osborne is not to come into the house, then obedience becomes rather difficult.’

’Just say now that you will do what he wants, and then all will be right.’

’I will not say so to you, Lady Milborough.  It is not to you that I ought to say it.  But as he has chosen to send you here, I will explain to you that I have never disobeyed him.  When I was free, in accordance with Mr Trevelyan’s wishes, to have what intercourse I pleased with Colonel Osborne, I received a note from that gentleman on a most trivial matter.  I answered it as trivially.  My husband saw my letter, closed, and questioned me about it.  I told him that the letter was still there, and that if he chose to be a spy upon my actions he could open it and read it.’

’My dear, how could you bring yourself to use the word spy to your husband?’

’How could he bring himself to accuse me as he did?  If he cares for me let him come and beg my pardon for the insult he has offered me.’

‘Oh, Mrs Trevelyan!’

’Yes; that seems very wrong to you, who have not had to bear it.  It is very easy for a stranger to take a husband’s part, and help to put down a poor woman who has been ill used.  I have done nothing wrong, nothing to be ashamed of; and I will not say that I have.  I never have spoken a word to Colonel Osborne that all the world might not hear.’

‘Nobody has accused you, my dear.’

’Yes; he has accused me, and you have accused me, and you will make all the world accuse me.  He may put me out of his house if he likes, but he shall not make me say I have been wrong, when I know I have been right.  He cannot take my child from me.’

‘But he will.’