But  you  shall  suffer  with  us :  not  your  heart,  for  you
have  none,  but  your  pocket.  You  have  broken  faith  with
me,  and  sent  all  my  happiness  to  hell ;  I'll  send  your
deed  to  hell  after  it ! "  With  this  he  flung  himself  upon
the  deed,  and  was  going  to  throw  it  into  the  fire.  Now,
up  to  that  moment  she  had  been  overpowered  by  this
man's  fury,  whom  she  had  never  seen  the  least  angry
before;  but,  when  he  laid  hands  on  her  property,  it
acted  like  an  electric  shock.  "  No !  no ! "  she  screamed,
and  sprang  at  him  like  a  wildcat.
Then  ensued  a  violent  and  unseemly  struggle  all  about
the  room;  chairs  were  upset,  and  vases  broken  to  pieces ;
and  the  man  and  woman  dragged  each  other  to  and  fro,
one  fighting  for  her  property,  as  if  it  was  her  life,  and
the  other  for  revenge.
Sir  Charles,  excited  by  fury,  was  stronger  than  him-
self, and  at  last  shook  off  one  of  her  hands  for  a  moment,
and  threw  the  deed  into  the  fire.  She  tried  to  break  from
him  and  save  it,  but  he  held  her  like  iron.
Yet  not  for  long ;  whilst  he  was  holding  her  back,  and
she  straining  every  nerve  to  get  to  the  fire,  he  began  to
show  sudden  symptoms  of  distress.  He  gasped  loudly,
and  cried,  "  Oh !  oh !  I'm  choking ! "  and  then  his
clutch  relaxed.  She  tore  herself  from  it,  and,  plunging
forward,  rescued  the  smoking  parchment.
46  A  TEBKIBLE  TEMPTATION.
