And now did she blame him?
Oh no! she ascribed his whole conduct to——
Monomania!
And when she found this answer to her inexplicable riddle, she could have sung and danced for joy!
Her marriage was not illegal; it was only private. And her adored husband was not faithless; he was only mistaken.
She had been told of monomania—she had heard how men might be a little insane for a time upon one single subject, while perfectly sane upon all others. She knew also that this was not a dangerous type of madness, but was often only the transient effects of fever, passing off with returning health. She wondered whether he had been ill.
Under this view of the case, she resolved to write to him. True, he had forbidden her to do so; and even assured her it would be useless for her to write, as he was about to leave Richmond for a tour through the counties.
But she reflected he must have left directions at the Richmond post-office to have his letters forwarded to him wherever he should be, and her letter directed to Richmond would be sent after him with the rest of his correspondents’.
So she sat down and wrote him a letter—patient, loving, pitiful, and even cheerful; gravely reasoning with him upon the fallacy of his idea that their marriage could possibly be unlawful; playfully inviting him to return that she might convince him how very righteous and legal their union was; then tenderly pleading with him to come and be with her in her approaching hour of trial and danger. She said no word, dropped no hint of the bitter anguish his letter had inflicted upon her, of how nearly her brain had been crazed, her heart broken, and her life lost in despair. Nothing that could possibly distress him did she write; but all she could think of to convince, comfort and cheer him. And she prayed Heaven to bless him; and she signed herself his true wife, for time and for eternity.
When she had sent off this letter, which she did early on a splendid morning of the last days of Indian summer, she felt so hopeful and so light-hearted, that she longed for a pleasant gossip with some one. So she rang for her old nurse.