POOR  Mr.  De  Vere !  his  was  an  idle  boast —
a  delusive  hope  !  The  old  court  suit  in  which
he  Had  figured  before  Courtney  Claverhouse
was  very  damp,  and  his  frame,  rendered  very
susceptible  of  cold,  by  constant  doses  of  calomel
and  nitre,  was  easily  affected.  A  violent  attack
of  rheumatic  gout  was  the  result  of  his  escapade.
Long  days  and  nights  of  nursing  were  entailed
on  Mrs.  De  Vere  ;  and  she  had  in  the  end  good
cause  to  repent  of  what  had  seemed  to  her  at
the  time  so  clever  a  manoeuvre  and  well  contrived
a  counterplot,  that  of  locking  up  her  husband's


A  LOVER'S  QUARREL.  179

wardrobe.  Somehow  or  other,  in  the  end,  a  curse
seems  to  light  upon  all  plotting  and  manoeuvring,
and  in  this  case  Mrs.  De  Vere  felt  that  it  had
done  so.  Her  husband  was  a  very  obstinate,
ungrateful,  unmanageable  patient,  and  the  task  of
nursing  him  was  a  very  thankless  one.
