"It is not going too far. You cannot, you dare not, pretend to be offended with what I say, when you know that my noble husband has been injured in his character and his prospects, attacked in his domestic peace, and now exposed to peril of his life, by the falsehoods your wife has told. I tell you that we do not impute her crimes to you. If this is justice, you will prove it by doing your full duty to my husband. If you decline any part of this duty--if you countenance her slanders--if you shrink from my husband's side in whatever we may have to go through--if you do not either compel your wife to do us right, or do it yourself in opposition to her--you are her partner in guilt, as well as in life and lot." "Consider what a situation you place me in!--But what would you have me do?" "I would have you see that every false charge she has brought is retracted--every vile insinuation recanted. You must make her say everywhere that my husband has not stolen dead bodies; that he is not a plotter against the peace and order of society; that he has not poisoned a child by mistake, or cut off a sound limb for the sake of practice and amusement. Your wife has said these things, and you know it; and you must make her contradict them all." "Consider what a situation you place me in!" said Mr Rowland again. "Be generous, Hester!" said Margaret. "Do not trample on a wretched man!" cried Mr Rowland, covering his face with his hands. "`Consider!' `Be generous!'" exclaimed Hester in a softened tone. "I might well say, Consider what a situation my husband is placed in! and that I must see justice done to him before I can be generous to others; but I have such a husband that I can afford to spare the wretched, and be generous to the humbled. Go now and do _your_ duty by us: and the next time you hear your wife say that we do not love and are not happy, tell her that if we forbear to crush her, it is because we are too strong for her--too strong in heart, however weak in fortunes:--because we are strong in a peace which she cannot poison, and a love which she will never understand." Even at a moment like this, and while feeling that she could not have said the things that Hester said, Margaret's eyes swam in tears of joy. Here was her sister, in a moment of that high excitement when nothing but truth ventures upon utterance, acknowledging herself blessed in peace which could not be poisoned, and love which the vile could not understand. The day, whatever might be its events, was worth enduring for this. Mr Rowland walked once or twice up and down the hall, wiped his brows, and then, evidently unable to endure Hester's presence, said he would let himself out, and there await Mr Hope's arrival, or anything else that might occur. Oh! would he ever come? It seemed to Hester like a week since she had given him his umbrella, and seen him ride away.