could not have stooped to a love unsanctified by duty. We were married according to the rites of my own faith,—a faith I still hold as sacred as it was once held in this recreant land.
"We had many dangers and difficulties to encounter; and it was months before we reached England in safety. Alas! you were born before that time: and, as I learned too late, our differing faiths made our marriage illegal. He was only my husband before his God and his honour. He should have thought of them before he disgraced the woman who never wronged him by a doubt, and the child whose very existence was his own. I learned the truth, but would never consent to a second marriage. It could not do you justice; and, for myself, I needed none. I stood acquitted by my own conscience. I had not transgressed the laws of God; and the laws of men, what were they?—founded on the party and the policy of the moment. None knew the secret but Mr. Courtenaye's brother, and till now he has held it inviolable. But I know Lord Norbourne well; he would sacrifice his life
