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Show 110 BICIIAHD llUJlDIS. CllAP'l'EU XV. '!'liB STRONG i\IOTIIEH. Afedea. I thought as much when first from th ickest lerwe~ J snw you lrudgin~ in such posting pnce. But to the purpose: what mny be the cause Of this most stmnge nnd ~udden l>nnishment r Fausta. The cnnse, nsk you I n simple cnuse, God wot; 'Twns neither tt·co.son, uot· yet felony, But for becnuse I Ulnmcd his foolishness. Medea. I ben t' you sny so, hut I greAtly fear, Et·e t.hnt your tnle be brought unt.o nn end, You'll prove yoursdf the nut.lwr of the snme. But prny, be bt·ief; whnt folly did your spouse, And how will you revenge yom· wrong on him I RommT G REEXE. HER fcnr seemed to possess the power of a spe11 to produce the very person whose presence she most dreaded. As if in compliance with its summons, her mother stood before her. ller tall, majestic form, raised to its fu1lest height by the feve1· of indignation in l1er mind, stood between her idiot <laughter nn<l the astounded John IIm·dis. lie had sprung to his feet on the instant when Jane, in terror, had started from his embrace, nnd, without daring to face the woman, he stood fixed to the spot where she first confronted him. ller monger, usual1y pale and severe features, were now crimsoned with indignntion; her eyes flnshcd a fire of feeling and of cl1aracter which lifted her, however poor and lowly had been l10r birth and was her station, immeasurably above the base creature whose supel'ior wealth luul furnisl1ed the facilities, and, too frequently iu the minds of men, provide a sanction, for the vilest abuses of the dependence and inferiority of the poor. The consciousness of wrong in his mind totally deprived him at that instant of those resources of 'I'HE STIWNU MOTIIEIL 111 audacity with which he who meditates villany should always be well supplied; and, woman as she was-poor, old, and without character and command, as was tl1e wife of the worthless J?ickett-tl1e sound of l1er voice went through the frame of IIurdis with n. keenness that made him quiver. And yet the tones were gentle; they were stud iously subdued, and from this cause, indeed, their influence was most probably increased upon both liurdis and the daughter:- " Jnne, my cllild, go home-go home!" 1l'hese were words not to be disobeyed by the trembling and weeping idiot. Yet she looked and lingered; she fain would ha,·c disobeyed them for the first time; but the bony and lo11g finger of the mother was uplifted, and simply pointed in the direction of their cottnge, which was not visible from the point on wllich tl1ey stood. Slowly at first-then, nftcr she l1ad adv: mced a few paces, bounding off with the rapidity of fear-the girl hurried away, and was soon lost to the sight of the two remaining persons. 'Vhen satisfied that she was no longer witl1in sound of their voices, for her keen eye had followed all the ·while the retreating footsteps of the maiden, she turned the entire force of its now-voluminous expression upon the man before her. ITer gray eyebrows, which were thick, were brought down, by tl1e muscular compression of the sk in of the forehead, into a complete penthouse above her eyes, and served to concentrate their rnys, which shot forth like summer lightning from the sable cloud! The lips were compressed with a smiling scorn, her whole face partaking of the same contemptuous and withering ex1lression. John lTurdis stole but a single glance at the features which were also full of accusation, and, without looking a second time, turned uneasily away. But the woman did not suffer him to escape. She drew nigl1er- she called l1im by name; and, though she spoke in low and quiet tones, they were yet such that he did not venture to }lersist in his movement, which seemed to threaten as prOill}lt and ra1Jid a departure ns thnt of the idiot. Her words began, abruptly enough, with one of the subjects nearest to her l1eart. She was not a woman to trifle. The woods in which she had lived, and their obscurity, had taught lessons of taciturnity; and it was, therefore, |