A Country Gentleman and His Family · Chapter 48 (2/2)

Chatty stopped suddenly upon the road. They were opposite to the gate from which so often the woman they were discussing had driven forth in her short-lived finery; a stillness as of death had fallen on the uninhabited house, and all was tranquil on the country road, stretching on one side across the tranquil fields, on the other towards the clustering houses of the village and the low spire which pointed to heaven. “Lizzie,” she said, “if it is never put right⁠—and perhaps it will never be put right, for who can tell?⁠—if you will come with me who know so much about it, we will go and be missionaries to these poor girls. I will tell them my story, and how I am married but have no husband, and how three lives are all ruined⁠—all ruined forever. And we will tell them that love is not like that; that it is faithful and true: and that women should never be like that⁠—that women should be⁠—oh, I do not believe it, I do not believe it! Of her own free will no woman could ever be like that!” Chatty cried, like Desdemona, suddenly clenching her soft hands in a passion of indignation and pity. “We will go and tell them, Lizzie!”

“Oh, Miss Chatty! They know it all, every word,” Lizzie cried.