But it flashed upon me all
of a sudden one night, as Mr. Holbrook was standing in our parlour
talking about his wife--it flashed upon me that he was in the secret of
her disappearance, and that he was only acting with us in his pretence of
anxiety and all that; I fancied there was a guilty look in his face,
somehow."
"Did you tell him about his wife's good fortune--the money left her by
her grandfather?"
"I did, sir; I thought it right to tell him everything I could about my
poor dear young lady's journey to London. She had told him of that in her
letters, it seemed, but not about the money. She had been keeping that
back for the pleasure of telling him with her own lips, and seeing his
face light up, she said to me, when he heard the good news. I asked him
about the letter which had come in the morning of the day she
disappeared, and whether it was from him; but he said no, he had not
written, counting upon being with his wife that evening. It was only at
the last moment he was prevented coming."
"You have looked for that letter, I suppose?"
"O yes, sir; I searched, and Mr. Holbrook too, in every direction, but
the letter wasn't to be found. He seemed very vexed about it, very
anxious to find it. We could not but think that Mrs. Holbrook had gone to
meet some one that day, and that the letter had something to do with her
going out.
Pages:
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372