'And you don't wear your wedding-ring?'
'Yes, I do; but not publicly. I wear it round my neck on a ribbon. I don't wish people to suspect who I am by marriage, or that I am married at all; it would be so awkward while I lead my present life.'
Marian paused.
'But you be a gentleman's wife; and it seems hardly fair that you should live like this!'
'Oh, yes it is, quite fair; though I am very unhappy.'
'Well, well. He married you—and you can be unhappy!'
'Wives are unhappy sometimes; from no fault of their husbands—from their own.'
'You've no faults, deary; that I'm sure of. And he's none. So it must be something outside ye both.'
'Marian, dear Marian, will you do me a good turn without asking questions? My husband has gone abroad, and somehow I have overrun my allowance, so that I have to fall back upon my old work for a time. Do not call me Mrs. Clare, but Tess, as before. Do they want a hand here?'
'Oh yes; they'll take one always, because few
