He had banished himself from his home; his wife had forsworn him; his child was blossoming into intelligence unwitting of any father.

Wife, and child, and home, were all doing well without him; what madness had tempted him thither?
an hour ago, like a fanciful fool, he had thought she might be dead--dead with sad penitence for her cruel words at her heart--with mournful wonder at the unaccounted-for absence of her child's father preying on her spirits, and in some measure causing the death he had apprehended.
But to look at her there where she stood, it did not seem as if she had had an hour's painful thought in all her blooming life.
Ay! go in to the warm hearth, mother and child, now the gay cavalcade has gone out of sight, and the chill of night has succeeded to the sun's setting.

Husband and father, steal out into the cold dark street, and seek some poor cheap lodging where you may rest your weary bones, and cheat your more weary heart into forgetfulness in sleep.

The pretty story of the Countess Phillis, who mourned for her husband's absence so long, is a fable of old times; or rather say Earl Guy never wedded his wife, knowing that one she loved better than him was alive all the time she had believed him to be dead..