The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1872-03-28

out stopping OF ralslnS his eyes.
Once, during the first months of this
strange life, | met him on the stairs.
| was not then calm, or rather broken
hearted, as now, | was angry, offend.
ed, and tried to pass rapidly by him,
casting upon him look of scorn.
He stopped me by placing his hand
on my arm, and | stood silent before
him. 1--WE have been very happy,
Juliette," he said sadly. but we
can be so no MORE" cried | in pas
sion. "No," he replied, "never
more" He looked at ME attentively;
then withdrawing his hand, he pass
ed on. We have never spoke to each
other since.
If all this was true, and in spite of
myself / was convinced that it was;
of what could she accuse her husband?
1t was absolutely incomprehcnsible.
Never, she told me, had the least
restraint been imposed upon her. An
invisible witness seemed indeed to
follow her everywhere, but only to
watch over her health and anticipate
her slightest desires.
"Do you not fear" | asked her, "to
meet DR.. Fauvel in going home?
wait little and my husband will ac-
company YOU"
"Oh, no." she replied, with a sigh
he seems to be aware of everything |
do. | do not even see him at dis
tance, and am very much astonished
at what has happened to-day. He
seemed to be quite out of health, u
that evidently disturbed her most;
madame, | beg you to ask NJ.
Colonge to care for him."
promised everything she asked.
At the same time promised myself
| to neglect no means that might en-
able mo to discover the key Of this
riddle. Michel, to whom | repeated
this conversation, appeared even more
surprised and troubled than |. He
asked me n hundred questions to
which | could not reply, remained Il
long while in n rcverle, and at last
asked gravcly, "Wouldn't it be better
not to occupy yourself with this ?"
Not occupy myself with it? why
not?n
All that | could obtain from my
| husband was q serious recommcndu.
ton 10 act with prudence. This as
tonished me but little, knowing as !
did his excessive reserve, and | did
not persist the less in my resolution.
| Women have, at least so every one
persuades herself, shrewd and deli
cate tact. In this case | could pride
myself but little Oh my perspicacity,
and | was even greatly discouraged
when weeks and months rolled on
without adding any thing to my
knowledge. We sent invitations fire.
quently.to DR.. Fauvel, and he often
accepted them. 1t il needless to say
that his wife was always included in
these invitations, and that we always
received the invariable excuse. The
doctor took up inscnsibly the habit of
coming to our house several times n
week, and appeared to enjoy our So
cety more and more. He could
nevertheless not be ignorant that his
wife visited us on other days, for he
was constantly finding on my table
some work or book that belonged to
her.
III.
Time passed rapidly. Tho doctor
and my husband had become great
friends. Although he was perfectly
polite and agreeable with me, could
not help feeling towards him a GER
tain amount of bitterness. His quiet
and simple manners, without the
least shade of eccentricity, his unfail-
ing politcness, above all that perfect
courtesy which was never for n mo-
mcnt wanting, attracted to him
the sympathy Of all the citizens
Of Amerville. When, as could not
fail to happen, the singular life led
by the couple was known by every
body, each person tried to find some
explanation to excuse the doctor at
the expense Of his wife, who was
thus exposed, without the power to
defend herself, and happily without
knowing the necessity for it, to the
sneers and suspicious of all the little
village. From that the life of the
young wife became more mono
tOnous and more isolated. The few
people with whom she had establish
ed an acquaintance abandoned her
one by one. / had need to defend
her couragcously on every OCCASION
but calumny did not the less produce
its usual effect. Some pretended to
be i'll when Madame Fauvel called, ,
through fear that the doctor would
come to see them ut the same time !;
others, on the contrary, desired to
LII, nl hnt thn
couple, at would be so curious"
they thought! At last the unhappy
Juliette was no longer able to go out
of her house except closely veiled,
without being pointed at, or meeting
ut almost every step looks full Of ma
licious curiosity.
The manner in which DR.. Fauvcl
replied to the customary inquiries in
regard to his wife was always perfect
ly natural, and was not in the slight
est degree different from that in
which any other husband would have
answered. | was more than once
seriously tempted to express my mind
as to his way Of living, but | must
confess that his respectful reserve and
polished dignity, which he never laid
aside, invariably stopped Inc when l
was on the point OF allowing myself
to make such remark or allusion.
Once in while his cOuntenance bore
al expression of heart-brOken sad
ness which caused all my resolutions
to torment him to vanish in an in
stant. gradually came to the point
of plying him only, and of becoming
exceedingly interested in him. OF
course, as Michel often reminded me,
no one has any right to NEEDLE with
the affairs of a wife who persists in
blindly obeying her husband without
a question Us to the justice or the
agreeableness of his decisions, and
who goes so far as to keep him in ig-
norance that she is dying OF grief. /
had therefore almost abandoned my
search for the solution of the problem
before us, whey new chance circum-
stance occurred to modify the whole
situation.
1t was, I remember, q beautiful
winter morning. was playing with
my son, then very little boy, in the