Constance Asper, that the moral world entertained a settled
view of the very clever woman Mrs. Warwick certainly was. - He had asked Diana,
on their morning walk to the station, whether she had an enemy: so prone are
men, educated by the Drama and Fiction in the belief that the garden of
civilized life must be at the mercy of the old wild devourers, to fancy villain
whispers an indication of direct animosity. Lady Wathin had no sentiment of the
kind.
    But she had become acquainted with the other side of the famous Dannisburgh
case - the unfortunate plaintiff; and compassion as well as morality moved her
to put on a speaking air when Mr. Warwick's name was mentioned. She pictured him
to the ladies of her circle as one of our true gentlemen in his deportment and
his feelings. He was, she would venture to say, her ideal of an English
gentleman. »But now,« she added commiseratingly, »ruined; ruined in his health
and in his prospects.« A lady inquired if it was the verdict that had thus
affected him. Lady Wathin's answer was reported over moral, or substratum,
London: »He is the victim of a fatal passion for his wife; and would take her
back to-morrow were she to solicit his forgiveness.« Morality had something to
say against this active marital charity, attributable, it was to be feared, to
weakness of character on the part of the husband. Still Mrs. Warwick undoubtedly
was one of those women (of Satanic construction) who have the art of enslaving
the men unhappy enough to cross their path. The nature of the art was hinted,
with the delicacy of dainty feet which have to tread in mire to get to safety.
Men, alas! are snared in this way. Instances too numerous for the good repute of
the swinish sex, were cited, and the question of how Morality was defensible
from their grossness passed without a tactical reply. There is no defence. Those
women come like the Cholera Morbus - and owing to similar causes. They will
prevail until the ideas of men regarding women are purified. Nevertheless the
husband who could forgive, even propose to forgive, was deemed by consent
generous, however weak. Though she might not have been wholly guilty, she had
bitterly offended. And he despatched an emissary to her? - The theme, one may,
in their language, fear, was relished as a sugared acid. It was renewed in the
late Autumn, of the year, when ANTONIA published her new book, entitled THE
YOUNG MINISTER OF STATE