A gleam of joy came across Helen’s face.
“Never, never,” repeated Lady Cecilia.
“Oh, I am happy still,” cried Helen. “I told your mother I was sure of this.”
“Good heavens!—Does she know about this packet?”
“No, no!—how could she? But what frightens you, my dear Cecilia? you say there is nothing wrong in the letters?”
“Nothing—nothing.”
“Then make no wrong out of nothing,” cried Helen. “If you break confidence with your husband, that confidence will never, never unite again—your mother says so.”
“My mother!” cried Cecilia: “Good heavens!—so she does suspect?—tell me, Helen, tell me what she suspects.”
“That you did not at first—before you were married, tell the general the whole truth about Colonel D’Aubigny.”
Cecilia was silent.