England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; Married people -- Fiction; Mystery fiction
“But we are to be very careful. Helena says, in so many words, ‘I come
to see you, Eustace, as a sister. You must receive me as a brother, or
not receive me at all. I shall write to your wife to propose the day
for my visit. I shall not forget--do you not forget--that it is by your
wife’s permission that I enter your house.’
“Only let me see her! I will submit to anything to obtain the
unutterable happiness of seeing her!”
The last extract followed, and consisted of these lines only:
“A new misfortune! My wife has fallen ill. She has taken to her bed with
a bad rheumatic cold, just at the time appointed for Helena’s visit
to Gleninch. But on this occasion (I gladly own it!) she has behaved
charmingly. She has written to Helena to say that her illness is not
serious enough to render a change necessary in the arrangements, and to
make it her particular request that my cousin’s visit shall take place
upon the day originally decided on.
“This is a great sacrifice made to me on my wife’s part. Jealous of
every woman under forty who comes near me, she is, of course, jealous of
Helena--and she controls herself, and trusts me!
“I am bound to show my gratitude for this and I will show it. From this
day forth I vow to live more affectionately with my wife. I tenderly
embraced her this very morning, and I hope, poor soul, she did not
discover the effort that it cost me.”
There the readings from the Diary came to an end.
The most unpleasant pages in the whole Report of the Trial were--to
me--the pages which contained the extracts from my husband’s Diary.
There were expressions here and there which not only pained me, but
which almost shook Eustace’s position in my estimation. I think I would
have given everything I possessed to have had the power of annihilating
certain lines in the Diary. As for his passionate expressions of love
for Mrs. Beauly, every one of them went through me like a sting. He had
whispered words quite as warm into my ears in the days of his courtship.
I had no reason to doubt that he truly and dearly loved me. But the
question was, Had he just as truly and dearly loved Mrs. Beauly before
me? Had she or I--won the first love of his heart? He had declared to
me over and over again that he had only fancied himself to be in love
before the day when we met. I had believed him then. I determined to
believe him still. I did believe him. But I hated Mrs. Beauly!
As for the painful impression produced in Court by the readings from
the letters and the Diary, it seemed to be impossible to increase it.
Nevertheless it _was_ perceptibly increased. In other words, it was
rendered more unfavorable still toward the prisoner by the evidence of
the next and last witness called on the part of the prosecution.
William Enzie, under-gardener at Gleninch, was sworn, and deposed as
follows:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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