2

and is one that I would very cheerfully exempt you from"
"I believe you Madam--but as it is one from which
my own conscience will not exempt me, I must perform
it however willsome it may be."
"The more irksome the duty--the greater the merit, and
of course the greater the praise that Mrs Edwards will
receive, and if I am not deceived, praise will be a suffi-
cient reward for any pain she may suffer."
"However sweet the praise of men, may be to your
taste Mrs Clifton, and I suppose it is from your own ex-
perience you speak--know that to me it is indifferent,
and that the approbation of my own conscience is a much
higher reward, but of that you cannot judge, for if you have
any conscience left, it must condemn instead of approve
your present mode of living."
Julia rose as if to leave the room--"nay sit still,"
said Mrs Edwards, "I am glad to see that you have some
conscience left--and that it has not lost all its sensibility,"
and she drew her chair so that Julia could not pass her--
"How have I deserved all this," said Julia, so vexed
that she could scarcely restrain her tears--"for heavens sake
Madam explain yourself--what crime? if I had committed
murder, you could scarcely have accused me more bitterly.
"And you have committed murder," said Mrs Edwards--
Julia started--yes," committed murder on your own reputation.
It is at past hope--{ ?}'.
"If so," said Julia proudly, "you might have saved your-
self a useless task--But I cannot believe the world
is as cruel and unjust as Mrs Edwards."
"Do you really believe than, that the world is blind
You daily expose in the eyes of the public, your daring
violation of duty as a wife or mother--You have separated
yourself from your husband--you have attached yourself to
a profligate villain--you abandon your child and expose
her to vice and danger--and all this as { ?} and { ?}-
ly as if you were as unconscious of it, as you hope
others will be--and not because the world will not