Although her husband did not trouble himself whether his wife was or
was not received into society, Mrs. D'Alton felt it very keenly. She
had not, like him, drank the cup of life's pleasures till it tasted
insipid or even nauseous; on the contrary, she looked on the pomps
and vanities of society as only a woman can look on them, and now
that she was legally respectable, and rich enough to keep pace with
even the most fashionable of her neighbors, it made her very heart
ache to think that these scenes of brightness were closed to her as
much as ever. She thought of what she might have been had she not in
her ambitious haste gone off the right track; and, pained with
bitter reflections, and with no one to speak to or converse with
(for her husband spent most of his time at the club) she solaced
herself, as others in her predicament have done, with the cup of
forgetfulness, sinking deeper and deeper at every step, till the
habit became confirmed.

Although Mrs. D'Alton had taken her husband into her confidence, and
told him truthfully her history, she had not sufficient strength of
mind to tell him how ignorant she really was, and that she could not
even read and write with accuracy. Her letters to her husband had
been written by her nursery-governess, engaged ostensibly to
instruct the children; but in reality to act as amanuensis for the
lady of the house. The young lady thus engaged was at first rather
averse to signing her mistress' name to her letters without adding
her own initials, but the present of a handsome broach and earrings
soon quieted her sensitive conscience and she soon fell into the plan,
not being unwilling to make use of such a powerful lever for
obtaining largesses from Mrs. D'Alton. In time this young lady
became so overbearing that her mistress fully made up her mind to