Cruel As The Grave

There was a time when bliss

Shone o'er her heart from every look of his;

When but to see him, hear him, breathe the air

In which he dwelt, was her soul's fondest prayer;

When round him hung such a perpetual spell,

Whate'er he did none ever did so well;

Yet now he comes, brighter than ever, far,

He beamed before; but ah! not bright for her.--MOORE.

Fortunately for the fascinated husband and the jealous wife, the Circuit

Court was now sitting at Blackville, and the lawyer's professional

duties demanded all Mr. Berner's time.

Only one year before this, when the struggling young lawyer depended

upon his work for his bread, he could hardly get a paying client; now

that he was entirely independent of his profession, he was overwhelmed

with business. As the wealthy master of the Black Valley manor, with its

rich dependencies of farms, quarries, mills, and hamlets, he might have

led the easy life of a country gentleman. But in Lyon Berners'

apprehension, work was duty; and so to work he went, as if he had had to

get his living by it.

Every day he left home at nine o'clock in the morning, in order to be

present at the opening of the court at ten. He reached home again at

four in the afternoon, and dined with Sybil and Rosa. After dinner he

retired to his study, and spent the evening in working up his briefs and

preparing for the next day's business.

Thus he was entirely separated from his guest, who never saw him except

at the table, with the breadth of the board between them, and almost

entirely from his wife, who only had his company to herself at night.

Yet Sybil was content. Her love, if, in some of its phases, it was a

jealous and exacting passion, in others was a noble and generous

principle. She would not spare a glance, a smile, a caress of his, to

any other woman; yet she would give him wholly up to his duty, his

profession, his country, or to any grand impersonal object. And the

few hours out of the twenty-four when she could enjoy his society apart

from her dreaded rival, compensated her for the many when he was absent

or engaged upon his professional duties.

But ah! this could not last!

It happened, very naturally, that while Mr. Lyon Berners spent his

mornings in the court-house, Mrs. Lyon Berners spent hers in receiving

the calls and congratulations of her friends, to whom she always

presented her permanent visitor, Mrs. Blondelle.

At length two unconnected events happened at the same time. The court

adjourned, and the last visit of ceremony was paid.

Sybil, at the instance of Mr. Berners, gave a dinner-party, and they

entertained the judges and barristers of the court. And upon that

occasion, Mrs. Blondelle of course was introduced, and equally of

course, her beauty made a very great sensation. And Sybil was well

pleased. She was perfectly willing that her protégé should outshine her

in every company, if only she did not outrival her in her husband's

admiration.