In a quarter of an hour Mrs. Jenner returned. She looked at the empty table, at the heaped up fuel in the grate, and finally her gaze of loathing and of scorn fell upon the figure by the fire.

"Still the same selfish brute," she said, resuming her seat and her work. "My child and I are almost starving, almost without a fire; yet you devour our small portion and burn our sticks. And why not? What do our pains matter to you, so long as you are comfortable?"

"I have had more discomfort than you," grumbled her husband, avoiding her contemptuous eyes. "Had you been in prison----"

"I would never have come near those whom I had disgraced," she finished swiftly, and went on with her stitching.

The culprit writhed.

"Lizzie," he said, "do not be too hard on me. I have sinned, but I have been punished. You might forgive me now."

"Never!" said the wife, curtly, and the expression of her eyes told him that she fully meant what she said.

"How hard women can be."

"Women," remarked Mrs. Jenner, shifting the work on her knee, "are what men make them. You behaved to me like the brute that you are; you cannot blame me, then, if I treat you according to your nature. I live for our child--to make amends for what you have done. Therefore, I have an object in life. Had I not, I would gladly die; and I would gain death--a shameful death--by killing you."

The terrible intensity of her gaze made the guilty wretch shiver. "I will make it up to you," he said, feebly.

"Not you. You will go on just the same--that is if I will let you--and that I don't intend to do."

"I shall have money soon--plenty of money."

"What! Are you going to steal again? I want none of your ill-gotten gains. This house is poor, but it is honest. I earn the food my child and I eat, or I beg it; but stealing? No, I leave that to you. Why have you come here?"

"I thought we might come together again and live a new life."

Mrs. Jenner threw aside her work and sprang up. "I would rather die," she said, in a voice of intense hatred. "You treated me like a dog; you struck me; you starved me; you were unfaithful to me. I would rather die."

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