Chapter 14

⁠​​​‌​​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌⁠The laboured resistance which Lady Constantine's judgment had offered to her rebellious affection ere she learnt that she was a widow, now passed into a bashfulness that rendered her almost as unstable of mood as before. But she was one of that mettle—fervid, cordial, and spontaneous—who had not the heart to spoil a passion; and her affairs having gone to rack and ruin by no fault of her own she w