Without repeating their words--which I have no right to do, having heard by accident what I had no business to hear--I may say generally, to show how serious the quarrel was, that my mistress charged my master with having married from mercenary motives, with keeping out of her company as much as he could, and with insulting her by a suspicion which it would be hard ever to forgive, and impossible ever to forget.He replied by violent language directed against herself, and by commanding her never to open the doors again to Mr.Meeke; she, on her side, declaring that she would never consent to insult a clergyman and a gentleman in order to satisfy the whim of a tyrannical husband.
Upon that, he called out, with a great oath, to have his horse saddled directly, declaring that he would not stop another instant under the same roof with a woman who had set him at defiance, and warning his wife that he would come back, if Mr.
Meeke entered the house again, and horsewhip him, in spite of his black coat, all through the village.
With those words he left her, and rode away to the sea-port where his yacht was lying.My mistress kept up her spirit till he was out of sight, and then burst into a dreadful screaming passion of tears, which ended by leaving her so weak that she had to be carried to her bed like a woman who was at the point of death.
The same evening my master's horse was ridden back by a messenger, who brought a scrap of notepaper with him addressed to me.It only contained these lines:
"Pack up my clothes and deliver them immediately to the bearer.
You may tell your mistress that I sail to-night at eleven o'clock for a cruise to Sweden.Forward my letters to the post-office, Stockholm."I obeyed the orders given to me except that relating to my mistress.The doctor had been sent for, and was still in the house.I consulted him upon the propriety of my delivering the message.He positively forbade me to do so that night, and told me to give him the slip of paper, and leave it to his discretion to show it to her or not the next morning.
The messenger had hardly been gone an hour when Mr.Meeke's housekeeper came to the Hall with a roll of music for my mistress.I told the woman of my master's sudden departure, and of the doctor being in the house.This news brought Mr.Meeke himself to the Hall in a great flutter.