‘Not one line from you did I ever receive.’
‘Then my letters must have been intercepted. I addressed them to your aunt’s house in Scotland, where you were staying at the time.’
‘Aunt Judith had set her heart on my marrying Sir Thomas Dimsdale.’
‘And would not let my letters reach you. Week after week and month after month, I waited for an answer, hoping against hope; but none ever came.’
‘Week after week and month after month, I waited for a letter from you; but none ever came.’
‘And your Aunt Judith—she who intercepted my letters—was accounted a good woman.’
‘An excellent woman. Even on wet Sundays, she always went to church twice.’
‘So excellent, that at length she persuaded you to marry Sir Thomas.’
‘It was not her persuasion that induced me to marry. It was to save my father from ruin.’
‘What a sacrifice!’