Theodore Winthrop

“ Then, in her soul, began a great and terrible battle. “You are free!” her old companion Furies whispered her. “Free of that incubus, your husband. Such triumph well repays you for the insult of a few hours’ bondage.”
But then a low voice within her seemed to ask, “Triumph! Can you name it triumph that you have trampled on your womanhood, and done murder to a man who gave you only love and only pity when you wronged him?” ”

“ Disloyal woman, — if you are a woman, and not a fiend, — your cruelty has brought defeat and shame upon you! Profit by this moment of quiet reflection! see how the broken law revenges itself!”
“Yes, madam,” the other voices here interrupted, “you cannot escape what your weakness calls shame. You will never live down scandal. The untempted people will never admit you to their ranks. ”

“ The man is gone, and every relic of him and his name shall perish from the earth. How plainly I seem to see him lying there dead, with his face upturned! What? Do dead men stir? I think he stirred. Do you dare to lift your finger and point at me? I had a right to shoot housebreakers. Put down your finger, sir! You will not? Bah! Do what you please, you cannot terrify me. You shall be burnt, burnt, — do you hear? I smell fire strangely. The smoke from that chimney, — yes, nothing else. I am afraid I shall be cold before morning; but now I am feverish. The air seems hot and dry. ”