morning s hand trembled as she took the paper why should i read it she faltered mechanically lady raised her eyebrows and frowned impatiently � why because it is your duty to do so have you no will you allow your husband to write such a letter as to another woman � and such a woman too without one word of remonstrance you owe it to yourself � to your own sense of honour � to resent and resist such treatment on his part surely the deepest love cannot pardon deliberate injury and insult my love can pardon anything answered the girl in a low voice and then slowly very slowly she opened the folded sheet � slowly she read every word it contained � words that stamped themselves one by one on her bewildered brain and sent it the land of mockery into darkness and she felt sick and cold � she stared at her husband s familiar handwriting a man who has loved and who loves you still and who without you is utterly weary and broken hearted thus he wrote of himself to � to violet it seemed incredible � yet it was true she heard a rushing sound in her ears � the room swung round before her eyes � yet she still calm and cold holding the letter and speaking no word lady watched her irritated at her well she exclaimed at last have you nothing to say looked up her eyes burning with an intense feverish light nothing r she replied repeated her with emphatic astonishment nothing against philip continued the girl steadily for the blame is not his but mine that he is weary and must be my fault � though i cannot yet understand what i have done but it must be something because if i were all that he wished he would not have grown so tired she paused and her pale lips quivered i am sorry she went on with dreamy pathos for him than for myself because now i see i am in the way of his happiness a quiver of agony passed over her face � she fixed her large bright eyes on lady who instinctively shrank from the solemn speechless despair of that penetrating gaze who gave you this letter she asked calmly i told you before � miss herself why did she give it to you continued in a dull sad voice � lady hesitated and stammered a little well because � because i asked her if the stories about sir philip were true and she begged me to ask him not to visit her so often then with an additional thought of malice she said softly she doesn t wish to wrong you � of course she s not a very good woman but i think she feels sorry for you the girl uttered a smothered cry of anguish as though she had been to the heart she � to be actually by violet because she had been unable to keep her husband s love this idea tortured her very soul � but she was silent i thought you were my friend she suddenly with a strange so i am murmured lady a guilty flush colouring her cheeks you have made me very miserable went on gravely and with pathetic simplicity and i am sorry indeed that we ever met i was so happy till i knew you � and yet i was very fond of you i am sure you mean everything for the best but i cannot think it is so and it is all so dark and desolate now � why have you taken such pains to make me sad why have you so often tried to make me doubt my husband s love � why have you come to day so quickly to tell me i have lost it but for you i might never have known this sorrow � i might have died soon in happy ignorance believing in my darling s truth as i believe in god her voice broke and a hard sob choked her utterance for once i s conscience smote her � for once she felt ashamed and dared not offer consolation to the innocent soul she had so stricken for a minute or two there was silence broken only by the monotonous of the clock and the of the fire presently spoke again i will ask you to go away now and leave me she said simply when the heart is sorrowful it is best to be alone good bye and she gently held out her hand poor said lady taking it with an affectation of tenderness what will you do did not answer she sat mute and rigid you are thinking of me just now continued softly but i felt it was my duty to tell you the worst at once it s no good living in a delusion i i m very very sorry for you remained perfectly silent lady moved the door as she opened it looked back at her the girl might have been a lifeless figure for any movement that could be perceived about her her face was white as marble � her eyes were fixed on the sparkling fire � her very hands looked stiff and pallid as wax as they lay clasped in her lap � the letter � the cruel letter � had fallen at her feet she seemed as one in a trance of misery � and so lady left her the land of mockery chapter ix o my lord o love i have laid my life at thy feet have thy will thereof for what shall please thee is sweet she roused herself at last her hands she pushed back her hair from her brows and sighed heavily shivering as with intense cold she rose from the chair she had so long occupied and stood upright mechanically gathering around her the long fur mantle that 