"Vengeance!" exclaimed the husband. "The cretur has left the marks of her teeth, for I can see 'em as plain as day!"
"Well, the brute creature don't know any better, Silas, so let it pass."
Silas looked at his wife, whose cheerful manner was more like that of a person who was filled with the sweetest delights, than one who had received a bite from a cat, and he said to himself:
"The woman is very happy with me; that is certain. It takes me to render a woman happy."
In the last adventure, Burr had certainly conferred great pleasure upon a young and amorous woman, besides aiding her in a pecuniary manner, and these reflections were agreeable to him. He believed that no harm would result to any one concerned, as the husband would never know what had taken place.
In the other case, he feared that harm would ensue. There was something in the look and manner of Mrs. W— that enlisted his sympathy. He was certain that she had married from purely disinterested motives, and that he for whom she had sacrificed all, had flung her to the wind, and received another in her place. Yet why should he have done this? Burr had ample proof that her limbs were elegantly formed, and other more secret charms were ravishingly delightful, and that in the sexual act itself, she was eager and fervent.
As his person was unknown to Dr. W—, Burr visited the neighborhood, and finally became acquainted with the following facts: Dr. W— did not sleep at home that night. Weary with travel, and none the less so for having exhausted his physical powers with the New Hampshire beauty, he repaired to a public house, rather than to go through a scene with his wife before he had recruited his energies.
In the morning he went home full of wrath and vengeance. He found the servant, but not his wife. She had prudently gone to her mother's house in Lexington. Not doubting that his wife had gone to the maternal mansion, the doctor put his horse to the chaise, and drove out to the village.
His wife was not visible, but the old lady presented herself. She was a square-built dame, with embrowned cheeks, and large gray eyes, with sound teeth, and hair scarcely streaked with gray. One could not look upon that form and countenance without feeling that the old lady was equal to any emergency.
"Is my wife here?" asked Dr. W—, with the air of a deeply-injured man.
"Well, she is, sir," was the reply of the good lady, who smoothed down her apron, and shook her exhuberant locks, like a general placing his troops in order for battle.
"Then, madam, I must see her"
"Must is for the king, sir."
