"I have been hardly dealt with, I have been cruelly treated, Penelope! I must have been very treacherously used, since I believed in the desertion of all my friends!" "I see it all; I have long seen and feared all this, Julia! I know the snares which have been set to wreck your happiness, and throw you from your husband's heart! I know the influence which was feared and counteracted by that vile woman, with all the energy of vileness!" A fit of trembling attacked Lady Ennismore, and cold perspiration bedewed her face and hands. "If _you_ have seen it, or can understand it, Penelope," she exclaimed, "how must _I_ have felt it!" Lady Ennismore sunk back with the effort of speaking. "Chrystal," said Mrs. Spottiswoode, "let us support Lady Ennismore to your room at once. There alone will be security and quiet. The gentlemen may be returning." "What gentlemen?" exclaimed Lady Ennismore, hastily. "Don't allow Neville to come near me. I will never see him again." "No one is coming, my own Julia, but Charles Spottiswoode. You remember Charles Spottiswoode--your friend and mine, and now my husband?" "Yes, I remember him, but I never heard of your nuptials; every body was so silent, every thing was kept from me!" "Did Colonel Neville never inform you of Shropshire events, through the medium of the papers, dearest?" The name of Neville pronounced by other lips produced extreme terror. Lady Ennismore started up, and seized Mrs. Spottiswoode's hands. "Don't believe a word of it, Penelope!--don't credit that horrible assertion! it is untrue! As I am looking for the peace which can only reach me beyond the grave, I never lost my own respect, or forgot I was a wife!" "I knew it--I knew it!--I never would believe a word of their vile reports!" exclaimed Mrs. Spottiswoode, bursting into tears: "but oh, Julia, your words are balm to my heart!" "I have flown from treachery, Penelope; and if you receive me, so will my father. Oh, my father!--my poor father!--you told me your heart was not in my marriage! I heeded you not! I clung to my mother's prophecies that I should be great and happy!" Lady Ennismore's emotion became alarming; and it was with some difficulty she was conveyed into her sister's apartment. She leaned upon her friend, and Christobelle assisted in supporting her trembling form. Christobelle marked her sister's emotion, and heard her deep suppressed sobs. The last time she beheld Julia Wetheral she was led in the pomp and circumstance of bridal glory, anticipating the excellent things which wealth and station are supposed to command. Lady Ennismore was laid upon the bed, and it was hoped repose would give comparative tranquillity, but Julia's disease was of the heart: she could not rest. "Penelope," she said, as her pale cheek grew hectic in its deep glow, "I have flown _from_ Neville!--I have not flown _with_ him! The world may say my flight was wrong, but they cannot say it was infamous!"