Almendinger was duly installed as its mistress, with a bevy of servants to do her bidding. That lady was at last in her element. Proudly did she now curvet, shy aristocratically, and display the 'suaviter,' in her new establishment, a la mode. The 'summum bonum' of life was with her attained. With the enlargement of her sphere of action, she never dreamed of increased responsibility. Intensely worldly, her ambition was of the earth, earthy. Her dependence upon Mr. Lampertz became greater than ever; he was her authority upon all matters of etiquette and fashion; a kind of master of ceremonies, and vade mecum for all occasions.

Carl was too busy, or would not suit her social purposes, on account of his ill-fitting clothes, exhibiting bandy legs, and exclaiming 'my blessed,' whenever he happened to be agreeably surprised. She deprecated in her drawing-room any repetition of lame Vulcan, exciting uncontrollable laughter by assuming the offices of the graceful Ganymede. Mr. Lampertz should be her Ganymede, her graceful cup-bearer. His polished manners and distinguished appearance gave éclat to the Almendinger house. Not that Mrs. Almendinger did not love her liege lord! not that she was like Katarine Diehl! Far from it! she really loved her husband, but she admired Mr. Lampertz. Married ladies should be careful how they draw these nice distinctions in the allotment of their affections. Between love and admiration, as between 'true wit and madness,' 'thin partitions do their bounds divide.'

Whatever others thought, Carl at least never suspected that his wife bestowed too much attention upon Lampertz; or he would certainly have repressed the glow of that hearty and demonstrative affection for her, which he exhibited alike at home, at the office, or on the street. For instance, if he were riding in his open buggy, to show some customer his city lots, and should happen to espy on the street his fat and ruddy-complexioned lady, he most probably would hand the reins to the attendant, with the remark: 'My blessed, yonder is my wife!' Then dismounting, and running up to the other Almendinger half, he would indulge in many little gallantries and attentions, such as brushing the dust from her cloak, adjusting its folds, or passing sundry bills from his into her port-monnaie. Then bidding her adieu, and looking back to keep up a gracious pantomime, he would re-seat himself, perhaps remarking to his companion: 'Poor thing, I am afraid she is rather imprudent to be out to-day; she is in such delicate health, and the weather is so cold. I told her she had better order a carriage, and go home without further risk.' His friend might be unable to see any good reason for indulging such sad forebodings, and so express himself; but Carl would have it his own way, that Mrs. Almendinger's blooming complexion was no evidence of perfect health, and that she was really quite an invalid. Many knew his failing, and, hoping to secure a better bargain, would take great interest in the sanitary condition and virtues of his Yankee wife, and apostrophize him as the happiest of men.

Mrs. Almendinger's indiscretions with Lampertz continued in spite of all this husbandly love. In vain did her brother, Doctor Posey, who also lived in Chicago, and who has yet to be presented to the reader, chide her, and beg her to be more cautious in her conduct. She would only laugh at him, and tell

him that he would have her as grave as himself; and that for her part she was determined to enjoy life, let people talk as they might. So the brother would turn away, more in sorrow than in anger at her frivolous nature, and the tendency to coquetry, which might compromise her character at some future time. John Lampertz continued to seek every opportunity to ingratiate himself with Mrs. Almendinger, and make his relations to her appear to the world quite as intimate as they really were. By so doing he expected to add to his social importance, and moreover gratify the loose principles which constituted his true character. When their domestic juxtaposition, and Lampertz's elaborate and open efforts to please his hostess, were associated in people's minds, with her demonstrative nature, her gratified vanity, and her frivolous deportment, it is not to be wondered at that scandal began to whisper away her good name. Such reports came at length to the ears of Carl, but he was incredulous, and at first would not hearken to them.

By-and-by, however, anonymous letters were addressed him to the effect that his wife had been more than indiscreet, and that he was both blind and foolish; and following these general statements were circumstantial details, for the truth of which Lampertz's own admissions were cited. There is no doubt that he had boasted that he was in favor with his employer's wife, and that he sought on every occasion, in covert ways, to bring Carl into ridicule. Carl's blood was at last fired by these anonymous gibes, and he determined to inaugurate a strict espionage over Mrs. Almendinger's conduct, without acquainting her with his suspicions.

Accordingly, private detectives, like the professional connubial spies of Paris, were employed, to peer with the eyes of Argus from basement to attic of the newly-built palace on the avenue; and in every way to ferret out evidences of the infidelity of the mistress of the house. Never was surveillance stricter in any pensionnat de demoiselles.

No one, however perfect his daily conduct, can be subjected to such an espionage, and not find his reputation imperilled. It is a matter of policy on the part of the spy to find evidences of guilt, and those who are willing to undertake so degrading an office are not very likely to sacrifice their interest to those of their innocent victims. No wonder, then, that Mrs. Almendinger's unguarded expressions, and her private tête-a-tétes, were all duly noted down, and reported as conclusive evidences of guilt. This communication came like a thunderbolt upon poor Carl. He had believed his wife innocent, that wife whom he loved so dearly, who had but to command him, to have every wish gratified, while he was calmly awaiting the result of the tests which he confidently expected would establish her innocence. In the event of such an issue, he would only love her the more, for the furnace of trial through which she had passed; he would search out her slanderers, bring them to condign punishment, and foul suspicion should never wrong again the best of women.

But now the dream was dissipated. Many witnesses concurred as to the guilt of his wife. Carl Almendinger braced himself accordingly for the crushing realization, that she had been faithless to her marriage-vows. From almost an angel, she dropped down to less than a woman. In Carl's haggard

features, in his unrecognition of his best friends, all could see that a grievous malady preyed on his mind.

What was he to do? He was proud and sensitive, as what Magyar is not? with his Ethnic type well-preserved for a thousand years, amid a complete environment by Sclavic races; and these qualities would illy enable him to brook ridicule and odium. Dearly as he had loved his wife, he would never compromise his unsullied character. He would communicate all to Mrs. Almendinger, and she should know the worst.

'Henrietta, you have brought dishonor upon me and our child. I have heard it all. Henceforth you become as a stranger to me; no longer wife of mine this side of the grave.'

'O my husband!' the wife replied to this startling charge, 'what are you saying? What have I done? Let me hear it all, for I am as innocent as that little ewe-lamb, our child. Never have I wronged you in thought or deed!' And Carl repeats again and again. 'Henrietta, it is useless to feign ignoLampertz openly confesses the favors you have lavished upon him. He boasts of his achievements, and the whole town is laughing at me for being so easily deceived! You have both been watched, and I am convinced of the unworthiness of both.'

rance.

'Gracious Heaven! is it indeed my husband who thus accuses me,' shrieked the terrified wife; 'my dear husband, whom I would die to please? Confront John Lampertz with your hireling witnesses, and you will see for yourself how false are these dreadful charges.'

'Henrietta, it is useless to rave so, for my word has gone forth. You might as well confess all, for you cannot deceive me longer. But although I cannot suffer my household to remain tainted by the presence of a woman who has proved herself false to her sex and her marriage-vows, yet true penitence and ardent prayer may win a pardon for your sins, as they did for the poor, despised Magdalen.'

'O Carl! you will drive me mad! I can bear all the calumny of the world, but it will kill me if you, my only protector, turn against me. Look at me. Do I appear like a guilty woman? Am I not the mother of your child? Have I not shared all your sorrows as well as your joys, your poverty and your prosperity, and have we not been happy together? If a woman's own household won't protect her, she might as well die. Mary, bring your father's revolver and let him put an end to my miserable existence, for his words are worse than death to me.'

'Father! do n't do so,' interposed little Mary. 'John Lampertz has been telling stories about my mother; I know he has. I would sooner believe mother than I would believe John Lampertz. Would n't you, father?'

But Carl only bade Mary be quiet and go out of the room, and closed the door upon the little girl, who was heard sobbing plaintively outside.

'Henrietta, I can endure any thing except dishonor; that I will never brook, though it kills me. You shall have a room assigned you, and can remain under my roof long enough to make ready, for your journey to Bethel. I am inexorable on this point. I will try to get your brother to become your escort. I will go with you now to the room which is prepared for you.'

'May God forgive you,' said Mrs. Almendinger. May not my daughter remain with me in my room?'

'I will order the maid, as soon as she can spare the time, to take Mary to see you,' rejoined Carl.

Can't I see my own daughter in Is it for this that I have left my new and distant home? I know

'Can't she go with me without the maid? my own house, without a spy to watch me? friends in Connecticut and followed you to this you have a poor, unworthy wife, but do love her as you used when we were so happy together. I will try to do better for the future and be more deserving of you. Won't you kiss Henny again and love her, father?'

But Carl was inexorable. The commonest marks of affection for her child were only to be bestowed under the espionage of a hireling; and while the lights burned brightly in the gorgeous rooms below, and the passer-by involuntarily stopped to admire and covet his neighbor's wealth, the mistress of the mansion was a prisoner in its sumptuous apartments, and the lord was tossed with unrest on a lonely bed. Although Carl had steeled himself for the occasion, and had determined to turn a deaf ear to his wife's protestations, yet, like Othello, he felt 'sore perplexed in the extreme.' His judgment was against her, but his heart wavered. The effect, however, of this and subsequent interviews, was to induce him to relent from his original purpose of petitioning for a divorce. So a separation was agreed upon, and Mrs. Almendinger was to assume her maiden name.

Their child, so young in years, was finally conceded by both parties to the guardianship of Dr. Posey, on the condition that the Doctor should see that she was educated under the supervision of a proper and impartial person, and in a locality where Mrs. Almendinger could occasionally see her. When the child

should arrive at the age of discretion, she was to determine for herself with which parent she would live. Carl, in the mean time, was to allow her a sufficient annuity to defray the expenses of her support and education.

Each party preferred to compromise and submit to these terms, rather than run the gauntlet of public curiosity in the courts, the talk of the town, and the uncertainties of the law.

As soon as the private detectives made their report, John Lampertz was dismissed from the office. The idea of a former meeting with Lampertz now began to intensify in Carl's mind. 'Is he a Hungarian? I begin to distrust him.' In spite of the efforts at suppression, rumors were rife in every quarter that something was amiss between the lord and the lady of the stately mansion on the avenue. Lampertz won no laurels by his achievements. Those who heard different versions of the story said he ought to have been shot down like a dog; that he had brought ruin on two families, and would soon be prowling around for a third victim. Some days after the articles of separation were agreed upon, Carl Almendinger's house was closed; no tidy maid answered numerous tinkles of the bell at the fashionable visiting hours of the day, or received dainty cards in her silver salver as aforetime, but 'this house to let' glared inhospitably from the door.

Mrs. Almendinger and her daughter Mary, under the escort of Dr. Posey

arrived safely at Bethel, Connecticut. Thence the first-named had gone forth a joyous bride, but now returned with riven hopes and desolate heart.

No provision was made in the articles of separation for a separate maintenance for Mrs. Almendinger; but as she had some real estate in Bethel to which Carl asserted no claim, she eked out a tolerable support.

Dr. Posey selected a Mr. Martin of New-Haven, from which Bethel was distant only a few miles, to educate the child, according to the tripartite agreement between himself and Mr. and Mrs. Almendinger.

Now began the efforts of disunited husband and wife to forget the many sunny memories owned by them in common; that first meeting in the village on the banks of the Connecticut, when the Magyar found favor in the eyes of the Yankee girl; the faith they plighted with loving hearts as they wandered alone by the river-side; the merging of the maiden into the wife; the birth of their child; the absence, and the joyous return of the husband and the father with laureled brows from fighting the battles of his native land; their palatial establishment at Chicago, where every wish was gratified, and they were supremely happy until the evil day came.

'My child, you must regard your mother as dead. I will be a mother to you,' was Carl's farewell address to Mary.

'I will only love you the more, my child, now that your father has disowned us,' were sobbed into Mary's ear as she started for New-Haven.

Mrs. Almendinger assumed her maiden name, while Carl sternly repelled all inquiries as to his dismissed family.

THE CONTEST.

THE LORD has girded HIM in might, and bared His own right arm,
The listening nations of the earth have caught the dread alarm;
Do you hear the tread of arméd hosts as the iron bars give way,
And the KING HIMSELF moves forth at length in terrible array ?

Where the dread, discordant angel bears his mighty waving palms,
'Mid the smoking of the battle and the clang of reeking arms,
Do
you hear the choral singing as it sweeps along the sea?
'Tis the anthem of JEHOVAH: "I will set my people free!'

We have pledged them to the conflict - the heroes of to-day —
Let them thrust the sharp sword downward till it smites the dross away,
When the flame is at its hottest, then the MASTER strikes the blow,
And the honey-drops of peace distil from the battle's fiery glow.

And when the ripe cloud rending, bursts in glory and in gloom,
When half the nation stands aghast to read their righteous doom,
Our God hath said, 'I will award, I will repay alone,'
The wrestling in the strife is ours, the vengeance is His own.

S. D. C.