"I cannot begin to tell you how much I deplore the unfortunate affair. It will always be a lasting sorrow to me. I cannot write any more now. My head is aching with the thought of what it will mean to you. Try not to think too hardly of me and believe me."
"Always your affectionate cousin,"
"Mary Caroline Wrexford."
Kingsnorth's head sank on to his breast. Every bit of life left him. Everything about his feet. Ashes. The laughing-stock of his friends.
Were Angela there at that moment he could have killed her.
The humiliation of it! The degradation of it! Married to that lawless Irish agitator. The man now a member of his family! A cry of misery broke from him, as he realised that the best years of his life were to come and go fruitlessly. His career was ended. Despair lay heavy on his soul.
CHAPTER XII
LOOKING FORWARD
Standing on the main deck of an Atlantic liner stood Angela and O'Connell.