, 1899-04-28

he embezzle money!
ST am afraid SO; but he never told me
the entire story, and | did not think it of
much then. l was only six
teen. James saw me first upon the stage
at Greenock, and when he proposed to me
/ thought 1t a grand thing to be married
to him. l had no parents or relations,
that | knew of, and his people were
thought a great deal of in Glasgow"
"Was your marriage with him q secret
one"
HE kept it a secret from his family.
They were very proud, he said, n he
was afraid If they heard he had married
an actress they would refuse to help him
any further. So we waited till we could
cross the border and were married in Ber-
wick"
"Tm sorry for thatl If it had been done
In Scotland, we might have proved it to
be an irregular marriage. What is the
name of the place at which you were
marriedP'
"Chilton. Oh! / shall never forget that
day, Mrs. Hephzibah. 1 was frightened
out of my senses; and the horrible old man
who married us was so tipsy he could
hardly get through the service. And the
very same night the little church In which
we were married was burned to the
ground"
Burned to the ground, child! What
entirely destroyed"
ST believe 30. They said it was struck
by lightning, but some people thought the
clergyman had set fire to it himself; and
! am sure he was tipsy enough for any
thing"
NDo1;n MNro-p3 avaIo;pn. Afro uonh1f.
bah, suddenly, have you got your mar
rage certificateT'
Eyes! / have a copy of It. 1t was given
us before we left the church.. But why
do you ask, Mrs. Horton T'-with a dis.
tressed countenance-"surely you do not
suspect that l am not married to him?"
mo, child! No! 1t would be much
better, may be, if you were not. But the
mar is a villain, and may turn round Upon
you any day. Keep the certificate safe.
Don't let it go out of your hands, or you
may find your name ruined before you
know where you are. Burned to the
ground! l never heard of such a thing
before. And what became of the drunken
parsonY'
81 have heard nothing of him since. For
a few months we lived near Glasgow, and
then James was unfortunate, and lost his
| situation, and | had to go on the stage
"While he does nothing"
"No, nothing. He says he can't get
anything to do"
IAN idle excuse, because he prefers to
live upon your salary. But it appears
to me that things have come to a crisis,
and that you ought to do something to
g. -~.--1 Gu@-a k1tN I,,kaI4 - kLs-
scoundrel. Your frieIds can't help you,
because you've got noI>e, and his friends
won't. Nothing remains for you, there
fore, Della Moray, but TO take the law
into your own hands and help yourself"
At these words the younger woman's
face becomes a picture OF despair.
"How can l help myself?' she cries.
"As other wives have lone before you
Have you never heard of such a thing as
a protection order?'
Never"
"Really, the ignorance of our sex upon
matters of general information is astound-
ing! l should have thought it was the
interest of every married woman in Chris
tendon to make herself acquainted with
the relief the law contains for her. It's
little enough, my dear, | can tell you, and
would burden no ones brains to get by
heart. A protection order, obtained from
a magistrate, would render you safe from
the assaults of that man tomorrow, and
enable you to live in peace, and support
yourself and your child"
"Oh, Mrs. Hortonl can it really be truei
[ thought that a woman, once married,
was bound to remain with her husband
till his death. l thought he could force
her to live with him."
$50 he can, if he supports her-not il
she supports him. Thank goodness! we
are not quite such slaves as that! though,
lin my opinion, marriage is a one-sided
contract, under the best of circumstances.
Now, mind you look in again tomorrow
evening, and hear If l have been able to
extract any sense out of my stupid old
lawyer"
But long after Della Moray, with her
bruised body and sick heart, has crept
away to her evenings occupation, Mrs.
Hephzibah sits motionless, staring into
the fire, and wondering what she can do
10 alleviate her position.
NrT DnUD TT