"Mrs. Holbrook had especial reasons for wishing to avoid all communication with former acquaintances. She explained those reasons to me, and I fully concurred in them."
"She might have such reasons with regard to other people; she could have none with reference to me."
"Pardon me, she mentioned your name in a very particular manner."
"And yet she has had good cause to trust in my fidelity."
"She has a very great respect and esteem for you, I am aware. She said as much to me. But her reasons for keeping her affairs to herself just now are quite apart from her personal feeling for yourself."
"I cannot understand this. I am not to see her then, I suppose; not to be told her address?"
"No; I am strictly forbidden to disclose her address to any one."
"Yet you can positively assure me that she is in safety—her own mistress—happy?"
"She is in perfect safety—her own mistress—and as happy as it is possible she can be under the unfortunate circumstances of her married life. She has left her husband for ever; I will venture to tell you so much as that."
"I am quite aware of that fact."