commands, I felt sure would not refuse. I had an interview and he
consented to wed me to my darling.

'In a little while it was accomplished; and writing a letter wherein
I stated what had happened, and telling how I loved my husband, I
laid it upon my father's desk and went away. My husband took me into
another county and provided for my comforts at a little rustic hotel.
I should have been supremely happy but that he was obliged to be the
greater portion of his time absent upon business, concerning which he
would not give me the faintest clue. I noticed, too, that he always
came at night and went away before the dawn; and that he always
seemed afraid of something and of everybody. Sometimes it ran through
my mind that my husband's reason was not sound; a suspicion that some
act of good judgment or clever reasoning on his part would soon
dispel. But his long and frequent periods of absence soon became
intolerable and I told him that take me with him he must; that I was
prepared to share labour, and travel, and storm with him.

'"It you do not take me with you," I said one day, after he had been
absent for a fortnight, "I shall go home again and never permit you
to see me more!" I knew he understood that I would keep my word. He
was very much agitated, and he said to me:

'"Since you desire it I will take you with me. When I take you there
shall you see more of me than you have seen since we were wedded. But
hearken to what I say: I would as lief carry you to the churchyard as
to the abode which is mostly mine."

'I was wayward; and declared that I cared for nothing provided that
I were with him. One evening he came and bade me to make ready. He