On the next day (Sunday) I saw Henry for one moment as we were walking out of church. I told him, in a low voice, of Robert Harding's appearance in the parks on the last Wednesday, and of his following us through the streets. "_You_ saw him," he exclaimed. "Then it was not Alice's fancy?" "No, no--I could swear to him. He had followed us, and stood at the shop-window long before Alice observed him." Henry looked extremely discomposed, and muttered something to himself; then turning to me, he said-- "That fellow has been desperately in love with Alice for years--since she was quite a child. Her grandmother turned him out of the house on that account three years ago. Just before our marriage took place, he made some outrageous scenes; I threatened to give him into custody, and warned Mrs. Tracy that I should do so. Two or three days after, she told me he had sailed for America, and from that day to this I had heard nothing more about him; but I must find out if she knows of his return. Perhaps she employs him as a spy. I shall let you know what I hear." After a pause, I said, with a great effort-- "You must not write to me on any account; remember that, Henry. Edward will read all my letters; he is already in the habit of doing so." "It was exceedingly foolish of you not to object to it. Pray, how am I to communicate with you if anything should occur to make it desirable? Is your maid to be trusted?" I coloured with anger and with shame, and gave Henry a look of indignant reproach. "I really beg your pardon if this offends you; but it is not for my own sake that I ask the question. You yourself employed a third person when you required my assistance." "I was not married then, Henry; and deceit, contemptible as it always is, was not as guilty as it will henceforward be. For God's sake, spare me the shame of a secret correspondence. You need not be afraid of my being too happy, or of my forgetting that you hold my fate in your hands." "Do not impute to me as a crime, Ellen, that, unfortunately, _your_ safety depends on _my_ conduct. I have exercised the greatest control over myself lately, and I had hoped that you would have done justice to my motives." As he said this we had reached the door of our house, and anxious not to part with him in anger, I whispered to him, as we shook hands-- "I do you justice, Henry. Forgive, and spare me!" He wrung my hand and walked away, without waiting for his wife, who had gone into the house with Mrs. Middleton.