Fenton, I have seen her."
"And she--she forbade you to let me know of her safety? She was willing
that I should suffer all the anguish of uncertainty as to her fate? I
could not have believed her so unkind."
"Mrs. Holbrook had especial reasons for wishing to avoid all
communication with former acquaintances. She explained those reasons to
me, and I fully concurred in them."
"She might have such reasons with regard to other people; she could have
none with reference to me."
"Pardon me, she mentioned your name in a very particular manner."
"And yet she has had good cause to trust in my fidelity."
"She has a very great respect and esteem for you, I am aware. She said as
much to me. But her reasons for keeping her affairs to herself just now
are quite apart from her personal feeling for yourself."
"I cannot understand this. I am not to see her then, I suppose; not to be
told her address?"
"No; I am strictly forbidden to disclose her address to any one."
"Yet you can positively assure me that she is in safety--her own
mistress--happy?"
"She is in perfect safety--her own mistress--and as happy as it is
possible she can be under the unfortunate circumstances of her married
life. She has left her husband for ever; I will venture to tell you so
much as that."
"I am quite aware of that fact.
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