The law of reaction is of more nearly universal application in moral

and in physical science than men are willing to believe. We have

seen how cunningly Rosa calculated upon it, and wiser people than

she, every day, attribute the most momentous actions of their lives

to its influence.

"My advice to every woman is to marry for GOODNESS--simple

integrity of word and deed!" said a lady, once in my hearing.

She was an excellent scholar, attractive in person and in manner,

gifted in conversation and opulent in purse. Her hand had been

sought in marriage by more than one, and in early womanhood she had

made choice among her suitors of a man whose plausible exterior was

the screen of a black heart and infamous life. Convinced of her

mistake barely in time to escape copartnership in his stained name

and ruined fortunes, she set up the history of her deadly peril as a

beacon to others as ardent and unwary as her old-time self. Either

to put a double point upon the moral, or to insure herself against

similar mishap in the future, she wedded an amiable and correct

fool, a mere incidental in the work of human creation, who was as

incapable of making his mark upon the age that produced him as an

angle-worm is of lettering solid granite.

Mabel's husband was not a simpleton, or characterless; but if he had

been, his prospetts of success would not have been materially

damaged by her knowledge of his deficiencies. A union with him was a

safe investment, and must be several degrees more supportable than

was her position at Ridgeley, banned by its owner and patronized by

his wife. I neither excuse nor blame her for thus deciding and

transacting. Should I censure, a majority of my readers--nearly all

of the masculine portion--would pick holes in my unpractical

philosophy, scout my reasoning as illogical, brand my conclusions as

pernicious--winding up their protest with the sigh of the mazed

disciples, when stunned by the great Teacher's deliverance upon the

subject of divorce, "If the case of the man be so with his wife, it

is not good to marry!"

Which dogma I likewise decline to dispute--falling back thankfully

upon the blessed stronghold of unambitious story-tellers--namely,

that my vocation is to describe what IS--not make fancy-sketches of

millennial days, when rectitude shall be the best, because most

remunerative policy; when sincerity shall be wisdom--proven and

indisputable, and consistency the rule of human faith and practice

the world over, instead of being, as it now is, one of the lost (or

never invented) fine arts.




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