"You should have married Maltravers."
"How could I, when he has a wife alive? What nonsense you talk, mamma! He killed the poor creature, and if he is ever caught he will be hanged."
"Not at all," answered Mrs. Vanhoosen. "I have had a letter from him, in which he says that he is about to return to England. No one here cares to prosecute him. Who will send after him? Is the district-attorney going to the expense of extraditing him?"
"Really, mamma, I do not know, and I don't care to argue the point with you," said Lena, with a weary air.
"Why not?"
"It fatigues me."
"You should marry Lord Maltravers."
"I shall never marry now," answered Lena. "I intend to devote myself to a life of single blessedness."
"Why so?"
"Because——"