"O God!" he gasped, "can this thing be? My wife! the mother of my child! It is a lie! I can't believe it; I won't believe it. Have pity on me, woman, and think again, and unsay your words; for, if 't is so, there will be murder in this house." Ryder was alarmed. "Don't talk so," said she hastily; "no woman born is worth that. Besides, as you say, what do we know against her? She is a gentlewoman, and well brought up. Now, dear master, you have got one friend in this house, and that is me: I know women better than you do. Will you be ruled by me?" "Yes, I will: for I do believe you care a little for me." "Then don't you believe anything against our Dame. Keep quiet till you know more. Don't you be so simple as to accuse her to her face, or you'll never learn the truth. Just you watch her quietly, without seeming; and I'll help you. Be a man, and know the truth." "I will!" said Griffith, grinding his teeth. "And I believe she will come out pure as snow." "Well, I hope so too," said Ryder, dryly. Then she added, "But don't you be seen speaking to me too much, sir, or she will suspect me, and then she will be on her guard with _me_. When I have anything particular to tell you, I'll cough, so; and then I'll run out into the Grove: nobody goes there now." Griffith did not see the hussy was arranging her own affair as well as his. He fell into the trap bodily. * * * * * The life this man led was now infernal. He watched his wife night and day to detect her heart; he gave up hunting, he deserted the "Red Lion"; if he went out of doors, it was but a step; he hovered about the place to see if messages came or went; and he spent hours in his wife's bedroom, watching her, grim, silent, and sombre, to detect her inmost heart. His flesh wasted visibly, and his ruddy color paled. Hell was in his heart. Ay, two hells: jealousy and suspense. Mrs. Gaunt saw directly that something was amiss, and erelong she divined what it was. But, if he was jealous, she was proud as Lucifer. So she met his ever-watchful eye with the face of a marble statue. Only in secret her heart quaked and yearned, and she shed many a furtive tear, and was sore, sore perplexed. Meantime Ryder was playing with her husband's anguish like a cat with a mouse. Upon the pretence of some petty discovery or other, she got him out day after day into the Grove, and, to make him believe in her candor and impartiality, would give him feeble reasons for thinking his wife loved him still; taking care to overpower these reasons with some little piece of strong good-sense and subtle observation. It is the fate of moral poisoners to poison themselves as well as their victims. This is a just retribution, and it fell upon this female Iago. Her wretched master now loved his wife to distraction, yet hated her to the death: and Ryder loved her master passionately, yet hated him intensely, by fits and starts.