“Is it any secret?” said Susanna.
“No, it is no secret,” said Marian, turning, and looking at her steadily. “All the world knows it. I have left your brother; and I do not know whether I am still his wife, or whether I am already divorced.”
“You dont mean to say youre on the loose!” cried Susanna.
Marian was silent.
“I always told Ned that no woman could stand him,” said Susanna, with sodden vivacity, after a pause, during which Marian had to endure her astonished stare. “He always thought you the very pink of propriety. Of course, there was another man in it. Whats become of him, if I may ask?”
“I have left him,” said Marian, sternly. “You need impute no fault to your brother in the matter, Miss Conolly. He is quite blameless.”
“Yes,” said Susanna, not in the least impressed, “he always is blameless. How is Bob? I mean Marmaduke, your cousin. I call him Bob, short for Cherry Bob.”
“He is very well, thank you.”
“Now, Bob was not a blameless man, but altogether the reverse; and he was a capital fellow to get on with. Ned was always right, always sure of himself; and there was an end. He has no variety. I wonder will Bob ever get married?”
“He is going to be married in the spring.”