A week passed, and no one that I happened to meet knew, certainly, whether Mrs. Dewey was at home or not. Then she suddenly made her appearance riding about in her stylish carriage, and looking as self-assured as of old. “That was a strange story about Mrs. Dewey,” said I to a lady whom I was visiting professionally. I knew her to be of Mrs. Dewey's set. Don't smile, reader; we had risen to the dignity of having a fashionable “set,” in S----, and Mrs. Dewey was the leader. The lady shrugged her shoulders, drew up her eyebrows, and looked knowing and mysterious. I had expected this, for I knew my subject very well. “You were at Saratoga,” I added; “and must know whether rumor has exaggerated her conduct.” “Well, Doctor,” said the lady, dropping her voice, and putting on the air of one who spoke in confidence. “I must say that our friend was not as discreet as she might have been. Nothing wrong--that is, criminal--of course. But the truth is, she is too fond of admiration, and encourages the attentions of young men a great deal more than is discreet for any married woman.” “There was an actual rencontre between Mr. Dewey and a person he thought too familiar with his wife?” said I. “Oh, yes. Why, it was in the newspapers!” “How was it made up between the parties?” “It isn't made up at all, I believe; There's been some talk of a duel.” “A sad affair,” said I. “How could Mrs. Dewey have been so thoughtless?” “She isn't prudent, by any means,” answered this intimate friend. “I often look at the way she conducts herself at public places, and wonder at her folly.” “Folly, indeed, if her conduct strikes at the root of domestic happiness.” The lady shook her head in a quiet, meaning way. I waited for her to put her thoughts into words, which she did in a few moments after this fashion: “There's not much domestic happiness to spoil, Doctor, so far as I can see. I don't think she cares a farthing for her husband; and he seems to have his mind so full of grand business schemes as to have no place left for the image of his wife. At least, so I read him.” “How has this matter affected their relation one to the other?” “I have not seen them together since her return, and therefore cannot speak from actual observation,” she replied. There was nothing very definite in all this, yet it revealed such an utter abandonment of life's best hopes--such a desolation of love's pleasant land--such a dark future for one who might have been so nobly blest in a true marriage union, that I turned from the theme with a sad heart. CHAPTER XX.