FullReads

From that time, Westfield became a regular visiter at the house of Mr. Miller, with whom he was now more intimate than before. He came and went without ceremony, and frequently spent hours with Anna while her husband was away. This intimacy continued for two or three years without attracting any attention from the social gossips who infest every circle.

“It is high time you were married.”

Or–

“Westfield, why don’t you go more into company?”

Or–

“I really believe you are in love with Mrs. Miller.”

Were laughing remarks often made by his friends, to which he always made some laughing answer; but no one dreamed of thinking his intimacy with Anna an improper one. He was looked upon as a warm friend of both her husband and herself, and inclined to be something of an “old bachelor.” If she were seen at the theatre, or on the street, with Westfield, it was looked upon almost as much a matter of course as if she were with her husband. It is but fair to state, that the fact of his ever having been an avowed lover was not known, except to a very few. He had kept his own secret, and so had the object of his misplaced affection.

No suspicion had ever crossed the generous mind of Miller, although there were times when he felt that his friend was in the way, and wished that his visits might be less frequent and shorter. But such feelings were of rare occurrence. One day, about three years after his marriage, a friend said to him, half in jest, and half in earnest–

“Miller, a’n’t you jealous of Westfield?”

“Oh yes–very jealous,” he returned, in mock seriousness.

“I don’t think I would like my wife’s old flame to be quite as intimate with her as Westfield is with your wife.”

“Perhaps I would be a little jealous if I believed him to be an old flame.”

“Don’t you know it?”

The tone and look that accompanied this question, more than the question itself, produced an instant revulsion in Miller’s feelings.

“No, I do not know it!” he replied, emphatically–“Do you know it?”

Conscious that he had gone too far, the friend hesitated, and appeared confused.

“Why have you spoken to me in the way that you have done? Are you jesting or in earnest?”

Miller’s face was pale, and his lip quivered as he said this.

“Seriously, my friend,” replied the other, “if you do not know that Westfield was a suitor to your wife, and only made known his love to her after you had offered her your hand, it is time that you did know it. I thought you were aware of this.”

“No, I never dreamed of such a thing. Surely it cannot be true.”

“I know it to be true, for I was in correspondence with Westfield, and was fully aware of his sentiments. Your marriage almost set him beside himself.”

As soon as Miller could get away from the individual who gave him this startling information, he turned his steps homeward. He did not ask himself why he did so. In fact, there was no purpose in his mind. He felt wretched beyond description. The information just conveyed, awakened the most dreadful suspicions, that would not yield to any effort his generous feelings made to banish them.

On arriving at home, (it was five o’clock in the afternoon,) he found that his wife had gone out; and further learned that Westfield had called for her in a carriage, and that they had ridden out together. This information did not, in the least, tend to quiet the uneasiness he felt.

Going up into the chambers, he noticed many evidences of Anna’s having dressed, herself to go out, in haste. The door of the wardrobe stood open, and also one of her drawers, with her bunch of keys lying upon the bureau. The dress she had on when he left her at dinner-time, had been changed for another, and, instead of being hung up, was thrown across a chair.