“Never! I told you so from the beginning of your acquaintance with him. I explained that he was my brother’s friend, and that they were brother officers in the Indian campaign. I distinctly assured you that he was not my friend.”
“Ah, I remember! Then it was his manner that misled me. Well, he is gone. Let him go. I hope he will soon take his departure for his own country. Great Heaven! Suppose the criminal marriage had been consummated before the discovery of the living wife had been made! Elfrida, I should have killed that man! Oh, my dear, it is not only the murderers who are criminally capable of murder!”
“Do not talk so, Abel. The temptation was saved you.”
“By a hair’s breadth only. It was a narrow escape!”
“Oh, no! The woman, I hear, had been in the neighborhood for a week past, watching him, no doubt.”
“Then, why in the name of decency did she not make herself and her claims known to us sooner, and here, at the house?”
“I do not know, unless she wished to put him to a public shame. She says she has a great deal to tell us; perhaps she will tell us that.”
“I shall ask for an explanation of that, at least. Well, my dear, I will leave you with our child. You will come down as soon as you can.”
“I will join you at dinner,” said the lady.
And, as her husband left the room, she went and resumed her seat by her daughter’s bedside.