Love and Jealousy

There was a time when bliss
Shone o'er her heart from every look of his;
When but to see him, hear him, breathe the air
In which he dwelt, was her soul's fondest prayer;
When round him hung such a perpetual spell,
Whate'er he did none ever did so well;
Yet now he comes, brighter than ever, far,
He beamed before; but ah! not bright for her.--MOORE.

Fortunately for the fascinated husband and the jealous wife, the Circuit
Court was now sitting at Blackville, and the lawyer's professional
duties demanded all Mr. Berner's time.

Only one year before this, when the struggling young lawyer depended
upon his work for his bread, he could hardly get a paying client; now
that he was entirely independent of his profession, he was overwhelmed
with business. As the wealthy master of the Black Valley manor, with its
rich dependencies of farms, quarries, mills, and hamlets, he might have
led the easy life of a country gentleman. But in Lyon Berners'
apprehension, work was duty; and so to work he went, as if he had had to
get his living by it.

Every day he left home at nine o'clock in the morning, in order to be
present at the opening of the court at ten. He reached home again at
four in the afternoon, and dined with Sybil and Rosa. After dinner he
retired to his study, and spent the evening in working up his briefs and
preparing for the next day's business.

Thus he was entirely separated from his guest, who never saw him except
at the table, with the breadth of the board between them, and almost
entirely from his wife, who only had his company to herself at night.