“Don’t tell her, Miss Marchant. I would not for worlds have her know. It would do no good. It might make her miserable. Women are so sensitive, even about the past, and I fear this affair is going on in the present.”
“Don’t tell her!” echoed Sophy. “You mean my sister! And the man is—Jack! Oh, what a wretch he must be!”
“Weak rather than wicked, perhaps. Don’t be too hard upon him in your innocence of life. When a man has forged fetters of that kind it ain’t easy to break them.”
“A man so fettered has no right to marry. It would break her heart if she knew.”
“She need not know. You won’t tell her; and you may be sure I shan’t. But you are a girl with strong sense; and you love your sister. I thought it only right that you should know.”
“You may be mistaken.”
“Hardly likely. It is an open secret that he established her in lodgings and paid for her education. And over and above that evidence there is the fact that he still visits her. I met him leaving her rooms only a few days ago.”
“The wretch! The hypocrite! He seems to idolize Eve!”
“And your sister is happy in that idolatry. For pity’s sake, Miss Marchant, don’t let her see the seamy side of a husband’s character.”
Eve came towards the archway at this moment.