Lady Ennismore raised her head from its pillow with effort.
"I have been hardly dealt with, I have been cruelly treated, Penelope! I must have been very treacherously used, since I believed in the desertion of all my friends!"
"I see it all; I have long seen and feared all this, Julia! I know the snares which have been set to wreck your happiness, and throw you from your husband's heart! I know the influence which was feared and counteracted by that vile woman, with all the energy of vileness!"
A fit of trembling attacked Lady Ennismore, and cold perspiration bedewed her face and hands.
"If you have seen it, or can understand it, Penelope," she exclaimed, "how must I have felt it!" Lady Ennismore sunk back with the effort of speaking.
"Chrystal," said Mrs. Spottiswoode, "let us support Lady Ennismore to your room at once. There alone will be security and quiet. The gentlemen may be returning."
"What gentlemen?" exclaimed Lady Ennismore, hastily. "Don't allow Neville to come near me. I will never see him again."
"No one is coming, my own Julia, but Charles Spottiswoode. You remember Charles Spottiswoode—your friend and mine, and now my husband?"
"Yes, I remember him, but I never heard of your nuptials; every body was so silent, every thing was kept from me!"
"Did Colonel Neville never inform you of Shropshire events, through the medium of the papers, dearest?"