'I foresee,' she wrote to Colonel Doyle, 'from the transmission of such a letter ... this consequence: that an unreserved disclosure from Mrs. Leigh to him being necessitated, they would combine together against me, he being actuated by revenge, she by fear; whereas, from her never having dared to inform him that she has already admitted his guilt to me with her own, they have hitherto been prevented from acting in concert.' Byron was, of course, well acquainted with what had passed between his wife and Augusta Leigh. It could not have been kept from him, even if there had been any reason for secrecy. He knew that his sister had been driven to admit that Medora was his child, thus _implying_ the crime of which she had been suspected. There was nothing, therefore, for Augusta to fear from _him_. She dreaded a public scandal, not so much on her own account as 'for the sake of others.' For that reason she tried to dissuade her brother from inviting a public discussion on family matters. There was no reason why Augusta should 'combine' with Byron against his hapless wife! The weakness of Lady Byron's position is admitted by herself in a letter dated January 29, 1820: 'My information previous to my separation was derived either directly from Lord Byron, or from my observations on that part of his conduct which he exposed to my view. The infatuation of pride may have blinded him to the conclusions which must inevitably be established by a long series of circumstantial evidences.' Oh, the pity of it all! There was something demoniacal in Byron's treatment of this excellent woman. Perhaps it was all very natural under the circumstances. Lady Byron seemed to invite attack at every conceivable moment, and did not realize that a wounded tiger is always dangerous. This is the way in which she spoke of Augusta to Colonel Doyle: 'Reluctant as I have ever been to bring my domestic concerns before the public, and anxious as I have felt _to save from ruin a near connection of his_, I shall feel myself compelled by duties of primary importance, if he perseveres in accumulating injuries upon me, to make a disclosure of the past in the _most_ authentic form.' Lady Byron's grandiloquent phrase had no deeper meaning than this: that she was willing to accuse Augusta Leigh on the strength of 'a long series of circumstantial evidences.' We leave it for lawyers to say whether that charge could have been substantiated in the event of Mrs. Leigh's absolute denial, and her disclosure of all the circumstances relating to the birth of Medora.