If you and your friend will sit down I will
tell you all I can.
"I am the wife of Sir Eustace Brackenstall. I have been married
about a year. I suppose that it is no use my attempting to
conceal that our marriage has not been a happy one.
I fear that all our neighbours would tell you that, even if I
were to attempt to deny it. Perhaps the fault may be partly mine.
I was brought up in the freer, less conventional atmosphere of
South Australia, and this English life, with its proprieties and
its primness, is not congenial to me. But the main reason lies
in the one fact which is notorious to everyone, and that is that
Sir Eustace was a confirmed drunkard. To be with such a man for
an hour is unpleasant. Can you imagine what it means for a
sensitive and high-spirited woman to be tied to him for day and
night? It is a sacrilege, a crime, a villainy to hold that such
a marriage is binding. I say that these monstrous laws of yours
will bring a curse upon the land -- Heaven will not let such
wickedness endure." For an instant she sat up, her cheeks flushed,
and her eyes blazing from under the terrible mark upon her brow.
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