OUR life at the Hall soon returned to its old, dreary course.

The lawyer in London wrote to my mistress to ask her to come and stay for a little while with his wife; but she declined the invitation, being averse to facing company after what had happened to her.

Though she tried hard to keep the real state of her mind concealed from all about her, I, for one, could see plainly enough that she was pining under the bitter injury that had been inflicted on her.

What effect continued solitude might have had on her spirits I tremble to think.
Fortunately for herself, it occurred to her, before long, to send and invite Mr.Meeke to resume his musical practicing with her at the Hall.
She told him--and, as it seemed to me, with perfect truth--that any implied engagement which he had made with Mr.James Smith was now canceled, since the person so named had morally forfeited all his claims as a husband, first, by his desertion of her, and, secondly, by his criminal marriage with another woman.

After stating this view of the matter, she left it to Mr.Meeke to decide whether the perfectly innocent connection between them should be resumed or not.