“It would be still worse there. We should have to receive our neighbors as usual if they called, and they all know Gwendolyn so well.”
“Only that friends would naturally be more considerate than mere acquaintances.”
“Surely, you would rather go abroad, Pauline,” he said, looking at her with some surprise.
“Infinitely, Reggie; but I wished to do what would comfort you most. Only that I want you, as a special favor, to promise that you will make no effort to see Gwendolyn.”
“Why?”
“Because you are both proud and passionate, and may speak words in the heat of argument that will make it impossible you should ever be friends again; and I do not see why you should not forgive Gwendolyn later, supposing she made a decent marriage, and showed by her conduct that she really regretted the past.”
“You forget, Pauline, that some people will always believe that she killed Belmont to hide her indiscretion.”
“Oh! no, dear, you torture yourself unnecessarily. I am sure nobody will ever believe that; it is so obviously the deed of a rival!”
“And Lawrence Dacre is here, you say?”
“Yes; he arrived the same night that Gwendolyn did, and put up at the village inn.”