"What does this mean? Lord Arleigh was married quietly, and separated from his wife the same day. What does it mean?"
"I cannot tell, but you may rely upon it that a reasonable explanation of the circumstances will be forthcoming," she would reply. "Lord Arleigh is, as we all know, an honorable man, and I knew his wife."
"But what can it mean?" the questioners would persist.
"I cannot tell," she would answer, laughingly. "I only know we must give the matter the best interpretation we can."
So she escaped; and no one associated the Duchess of Hazlewood with Lord Arleigh's strange marriage. She knew that when her husband returned she would have to give some kind of explanation; but she was quite indifferent about that. Her life, she said to herself, was ended.
When the duke did come home, after a few pleasant weeks on the sea, the first thing he heard was the story about Lord Arleigh. It astounded him. His friend Captain Austin related it to him as soon as he had landed.
"Whom did you say he married?" inquired the duke.
"Rumor said at first that it was a distant relative of yours," replied the captain, "afterward it proved to be some young lady whom he had met at a small watering-place."
"What was her name? Who was she? It was no relative of mine; I have very few; I have no young female relative at all."
"No--that was all a mistake; I cannot tell you how it arose. He married a lady of the name of Dornham."