"Dacres Grange was burned down," said the other, in a low voice.
"Burned down!"
"Yes."
"Good Lord!"
"It caught fire in the daytime. There were but few servants. No
fire-engines were near, for the Grange was in a remote place, and so
the fire soon gained headway and swept over all. My wife was frantic.
She came to me as I stood looking at the spectacle, and charged me
with setting fire to it. I smiled at her, but made no reply.
"So you see she was burned out, and that question was settled. It was
a terrible thing, but desperate diseases require desperate remedies;
and I felt it more tolerable to have the house in ruins than to have
her living there while I had to be a wanderer.
"She was now at my mercy. We went to Exeter. She went to her father,
and I finally succeeded in effecting an arrangement which was
satisfactory on all sides.
"First of all, the separation should be absolute, and neither of us
should ever hold communication with the other in any shape or way.
"Secondly, she should take another name, so as to conceal the fact
that she was my wife, and not do any further dishonor to the name.
"In return for this I was to give her outright twenty thousand pounds
as her own absolutely, to invest or spend just as she chose. She
insisted on this, so that she need not be dependent on any annual
allowance. In consideration of this she forfeited every other claim,
all dower right in the event of my death, and every thing else. This
was all drawn up in a formal document, and worded as carefully as
possible.
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