Access Online - The European Library

188 BLACK SHEEP.yvicked, fidelity, to the man who was driftingaway from her; the yvoman's lost soul was toogenerous for that; but he yvas hers, her own; —purchased; — God, in yvhom she did not believe,and the devil, whom she did not fear, alone knewrat v,hat a price; — ancl he should not be takenfrom her by another, by one who hacl done nothingfor him, suffered nothing for him, lost nothingfor him. Her combativeness and her crafthad been called into instant action by the firstdiscovery of the unexpectedperilin whichher soletreasure yvas placed. She understood her positionperfectly. No woman could have known moredistinctly- than Harriet hoyv complete is the helplessnessof a wife when her husband's love isstraying from her, beckoned towards another —helplessness wliich everypoint of contrast betweenher and her rival increases. She was quite incapableof the futile strife, the vulgar railing, yvhichare the ordinary weaponsof ordinary yvomen in theunequal combat; she would have disdained theiremployment; but fate had furnished her yvithweaponsofother form and far different effectiveness,and these she yvould use. Routh had strong