"
"How so? I thought Mr. Holbrook was quite unknown to you?"
"I have learnt a good deal about him lately."
"Indeed!" exclaimed the lawyer, with a genuine air of surprise.
"But of course your client has been perfectly frank in her communications
with you upon this subject?" Gilbert said.
"Yes; I know that Mrs. Holbrook has left her husband, but I did not for a
moment suppose she had left him of her own free will. From my knowledge
of her character and sentiments, that is just the last thing I could have
imagined possible. There was no quarrel between them; indeed, she was
expecting his return with delight at the very time when she left her home
in Hampshire. The thought of sharing her fortune with him was one of
perfect happiness. How can you explain her abrupt flight from him in the
face of this?"
"I am not free to explain matters, Mr. Fenton," answered the lawyer; "you
must be satisfied with the knowledge that the lady about whom you have
been so anxious is safe."
"I thank God for that," Gilbert said earnestly; "but that, knowledge of
itself is not quite enough. I shall be uneasy so long as there is this
secrecy and mystery surrounding her fate. There is something in this
sudden abandonment of her husband which is painfully inexplicable to me."
"Mrs. Holbrook may have received some sudden revelation of her husband's
unworthiness.
Pages:
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482