Nor could he come with
me to-day. He has left England--on a false scent."
And then he told her, in a few words, the story of John Saltram's voyage
to New York; making very light of the matter, and speaking cheerily of
his early return.
"He will come back at once, of course, when he finds how he has been
deceived," Gilbert said.
Marian was cruelly distressed by this disappointment. She tried to bear
the blow bravely, and listened with a gentle patience to Gilbert's
reassuring arguments; but it was a hard thing to bear.
"He will be back soon, you say," she said; "but soon is such a vague
word; and you have not told me when he went."
Gilbert told her the date of John Saltram's departure. She began
immediately to question him as to the usual length of the voyage, and to
calculate the time he had had for his going and return. Taking the
average length of the voyage as ten days, and allowing ten days for delay
in New York, a month would give ample time for the two journeys; and John
Saltram had been away more than a month.
Gilbert could see that Marian was quick to take alarm on discovering
this.
"My dear Mrs. Saltram, be reasonable," he said gently. "Finding such a
cheat put upon him, your husband would naturally be anxious to bring your
father to some kind of reckoning, to extort from him the real secret of
your fate.
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