Mrs.Val, though she did not come there, by no means allowed her horses to be idle; she went about sedulously among her acquaintance, dropping tidings of her daughter's losses.

'They will have enough left to live upon, thank God,' said she; 'but did you ever hear of so barefaced, so iniquitous a robbery?
Well, I am not cruel; but my own opinion is that he should certainly be hanged.' To this Ugolina assented fully, adding, that she had been so shocked by the suddenness and horror of the news, as to have become perfectly incapacitated ever since for any high order of thought.
Lactimel, whose soft bosom could not endure the idea of putting an end to the life of a fellow-creature, suggested perpetual banishment to the penal colonies; perhaps Norfolk Island.

'And what will she do ?' said Lactimel.
'Indeed I cannot guess,' said Ugolina; 'her education has been sadly deficient.' None but Charley called on Alaric that day, and he found himself shut up alone with his wife and child.

His own house seemed to him a prison.

He did not dare to leave it; he did not dare to walk out and face the public as long as daylight continued; he was ashamed to show himself, and so he sat alone in his dining-room thinking, thinking, thinking.