Year: 1865

(OOUtlOuol lTOU JHSI Weck./


sWcll, every,hing's done row' ex.
claimed Mrs. Grover to herself, az she
entered the parlor, ard looked up the
long vista OF the luxurious room. And
IA she sat there, n strange feeling OF
soberneaa and dread came over her.
She had been in q state Of inward OK.
citability, though she had controlled
herself we'll during the last few hours


She had packed her trunks so quietly
that neither the cook nor the chamber


maid suspected her intended departure,
and she had written, with hand tha,
did not ialter, her last letter to he,
husband, explaining, but without any
passionate reproaches the cause Of her
departure from his roof, and her con.
viction, founded on the unhappy ex


periencee Of the past three years, that a
separation was the course which would
ensn,e the peace Of either, and that she
was promoting his happiness as we'll a.
her own by leaving him.


And now there was nothing more for
Mrs. Grover to do, except to wait the
arrival Of her brother. She had now
no excitement, no outward sctivity to
detain her; she could only ait still, and
look straight in the face all the meaning
significance Of the step she was abou,
to take. Her gaze wandered with a
little touch of regret, about her parlor
az she remembered that in another hour
she would be it's mistress no longer.


Everything had familiar look, and
she had taken pride and pleasure in the
selection Of every piece Of furniture
Then she began to wonder what her
husbands feelings would be on entering
the house and finding her absent, and
with what sort Of emotion he would
read the letter on the dressing table
which would explain all. Would anger
or regret predominant in his heart
She was very certain that the possibility
Of her taking such step IS she was rc.
solved on had never occurred to him,
although each had Sometimes threaten,
ed 20 leave the other in moments OF
passion. And Mrs. Grover wondered
what course her husband would take in
the matter. Would he seek to win her
back? II he would come to her, and
acknowledge all the great wrong he had
done her, and promise tha. the future
should atone for the past, and should
find, after all, that he really did love
her, perhaps she could not tell-she
might be prevailed upon to return to
him. But it was no, likely that Rober,
Grover, with all his pride Sould do
anything Of that kind. Probably he
would come home to his lonely dinner
with just a. good an appetite as ever,
and she did not believe that the absence
of face which had so long sat at the
head of his table woali seriously impair
the relish for his coffee aud roast beef
In little while, too, he wo&id doubt
less forget her !; and after obtaining a
divorce for desertion, he would find
some other woman whose graces and
charms--Isut here Mrs. Grover
sprang suddenly to her feet and put out
her hands as thongh she would avert a
blow. She could not understand that
sharp pain which pierced her heart !;
but her thoughts instirctively turned
away from the path she was pursuing


Mrs. Grover mad deceived herself
with those specious eophistr;es Of the
heart which always blind orr moral
vision. She really believed she was
doing right in thus leaving her husband
and she had no doubt but that he was
entirely responsible f,r the sorrow and
Of their married life,
and that husband who had been all
thst her heart craved, she would haze
been the mos: loving and devoted of
wives, going for his sake to prison or
to death. Still az she walked mp and
down her noon, for ahe did not resume
her aeat again, her memory crcpt over
the last three years, ana for the first
time she could recall an oceasioxl in.
stance Of passion or pctulanee on hel
part of which her conscience would no,
quite acqnit her. She had TO Adnli,
before thst tribunal that sire had NO,
always been as forbearins or as thongh'
full as possible but then Robert had
auch . stinging, agravat;ng way q
talking xhst nobody but = saint or ar
angel could stand il. And vet whc
oould have believed the married life t.
which shc looked forwar three yesrf


AZ" With such hope and fai,h, would