Alas! What a sad picture to look upon, would it be, were we to
sketch, even in outline, the passing events of the ten years that
preceded this conviction on the part of Mr. Leslie. To Madeline, his
cold, hard, impatient, and, too frequently, cruel re-actions upon
what he thought her unreasonable, captious, dissatisfied states of
mind, having no ground but in her imagination, were heavy
heart-strokes--or, as a discordant hand dashed among her
life-chords, putting them forever out of tune. Oh! The wretchedness,
struggling with patience and concealment, of those weary years. The
days and days, during which her husband maintained towards her a
moody silence, that it seemed would kill her. And yet, so far as the
world went, Mr. Leslie was among the best of husbands. How little
does the world, so called, look beneath the surface of things!
With the weakness of failing health, came, to Madeline, the loss of
mental energy. She had less and less self-control. A brooding
melancholy settled upon her feelings; and she often spent days in
her chamber, refusing to see any one except members of her own
family, and weeping if she were spoken to.
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