Mrs. Leake of Rissbury

XXX. Marriage-Bells

XXXI. Sir Lionel goes to his Wooing

XXXII. He tries his Hand again

XXXIII. A Quiet Little Dinner

XXXIV. Mrs. Madden's Ball

XXXV. Can I escape?

XXXVI. A Matrimonial Dialogue

XXXVII. The Return to Hadley

XXXVIII. Cairo

XXXIX. The Two Widows

XL. Reaching Home

XLI. I could put a Codicil

XLII. Mrs. Wilkinson's Troubles

XLIII. Another Journey to Bowes

XLIV. Mr. Bertram's Death

XLV. The Will

XLVI. Eaton Square

XLVII. Conclusion

 

CHAPTER I

VÆ VICTIS!

THIS is undoubtedly the age of humanity—as far, at least, as England is concerned. A man who beats his wife is shocking to us, and a colonel who cannot manage his soldiers without having them beaten is nearly equally so. We are not very fond of hanging; and some of us go so far as to recoil under any circumstances from taking the blood of life. We perform our operations under chloroform; and it has even been suggested that those schoolmasters who insist on adhering in some sort to the doctrines of Solomon should perform their operations in the same guarded manner. If the disgrace be absolutely necessary, let it be inflicted; but not the bodily pain.

So far as regards the low externals of humanity, this is doubtless a humane age. Let men, women, and children have bread; let them have if possible no blows, or, at least, as few as may be; let them also be decently clothed; and let the pestilence be kept out of their way. In venturing to call these low, I have done so in no contemptuous spirit; they are comparatively low if the body be lower than the mind. The humanity of the age is doubtless suited to its material wants, and such wants are those which demand the promptest remedy.