“‘You talk almost as well as I do. Where did you learn?’
“‘I have lived three years in London, and two in Edinburgh,’ was the quiet reply, as the woman held the wine again to Anna’s lips, bidding her drink before talking any more.
“Anna obeyed eagerly, and then continued:
“‘You lived in London three years, and in Edinburgh two? Were you with Mr. Haverleigh all the time?’
“‘Part of the time I lived with him, and part of the time alone, though always in his employ.’
“‘You must have known him a long, long time,’ Anna rejoined. ‘Tell me then who he is and what he is? What kind of man, I mean?’
“‘That is a strange question for a wife to ask concerning her husband. Who did you think he was, and what? Surely your mother, if you have one, did not allow you to marry him, without knowing something of his antecedents,’ Madame Verwest said, and Anna colored painfully, for she remembered well how her mother and sister both had at first opposed her marrying an entire stranger of whom they knew nothing, except what he said of himself.
“‘Did you know nothing of his history? Did you not inquire? How long had you known him, and what was he doing in your town?’ Madame continued, and Anna replied:
“‘He was traveling for pleasure, I think, and stopped for a few days in Millfield because he liked the scenery; then he was sick, I believe, and so staid on as everybody was kind to him and made so much of him. He came from New York with a Mr. Stevens whom he knew and who said he was all right, and he had so much money and spent it so freely—’
“‘Yes, but what did he say of himself?’ madame persisted in asking, and Anna answered: