She was to be rebuked, and sternly rebuked;--rebuked by the man who had taken her heart, and then left her;--rebuked by the man who had crushed her hopes and made it absolutely necessary for her to give up all the sweet poetry of her life, to forget her dreams, to abandon every wished-for prettiness of existence, and confine herself to duties and to things material! He who had so sinned against her was about to rid himself of the burden of his sin by endeavouring to cast it upon her.

So much she understood, but yet she did not understand all that was to come.
She would hear the rebuke as quietly as she might.

In the interest of others she would do so.

But she would not fear him,--and she would say a quiet word in defence of her own sex if there should be need.

Such was the purport of her mind as she stood opposite to him in his room.
'I hope they will be kind words,' she said.