Only one of the journalistic fraternity had any idea of the cause of her flight, and he was too proud and bitter to give it to the world.
To his own family, under strict bonds of secrecy, he confided the truth, and Maud and Edith were indignant at the thought that wicked Mme. Lorraine had dared come beneath their roof, and loud in their protestations of disbelief in the story that there was a stain on Una's birth.
But Bryant, Sylvie, and Ida preserved a significant silence that told more plainly than words their belief that all had happened for the best. They hoped secretly that Eliot would get a divorce, as Una had told him to do.
[CHAPTER XL.]
After the space of five years, let us look in again upon the Van Zandts.
Eliot Van Zandt has a guest.
Pierre Carmontelle!
For five years the noble Louisianian has been a wanderer in foreign lands. He has returned at last cured of his passion for the girl he had loved, strong enough now to witness her happiness with another.