第96章

Mrs。Glenarmdecidedtoriskit。“Haveyouneverheard，“sheasked，“thatMr。BrinkworthmightpossiblyhavecommittedhimselfwithanotherladybeforehemarriedMissLundie？“

Herladyshipfirstclosedhereyesinhorrorandthensearchedblindlyonthecounterpaneforthesmelling-bottle。Mrs。Glenarmgaveittoher，andwaitedtoseehowtheinvalidboreitbeforeshesaidanymore。

“Therearethingsone_must_hear，“remarkedLadyLundie。“Iseeanactofdutyinvolvedinthis。Nowordscandescribehowyouastonishme。Whotoldyou？“

“Mr。GeoffreyDelamayntoldme。“

Herladyshipappliedforthesecondtimetothesmelling-bottle。

“ArnoldBrinkworth’smostintimatefriend!“sheexclaimed。“Heoughttoknowifanybodydoes。Thisisdreadful。WhyshouldMr。

GeoffreyDelamayntell_you？_“

“Iamgoingtomarryhim，“answeredMrs。Glenarm。“Thatismyexcuse，dearLadyLundie，fortroublingyouinthismatter。“

LadyLundiepartiallyopenedhereyesinastateoffaintbewilderment。“Idon’tunderstand，“shesaid。“ForHeaven’ssakeexplainyourself!“

“Haven’tyouheardabouttheanonymousletters？“askedMrs。

Glenarm。

Yes。LadyLundiehadheardabouttheletters。Butonlywhatthepublicingeneralhadheard。Thenameoftheladyinthebackgroundnotmentioned；andMr。GeoffreyDelamaynassumedtobeasinnocentasthebabeunborn。Anymistakeinthatassumption？

“Givemeyourhand，mypoordear，andconfideitallto_me!_“

“Heisnotquiteinnocent，“saidMrs。Glenarm。“Heownedtoafoolishflirtation——all_her_doing，nodoubt。Ofcourse，I

insistedonadistinctexplanation。Hadshereallyanyclaimonhim？Nottheshadowofaclaim。IfeltthatIonlyhadhiswordforthat——andItoldhimso。Hesaidhecouldproveit——hesaidheknewhertobeprivatelymarriedalready。Herhusbandhaddisownedanddesertedher；shewasattheendofherresources；

shewasdesperateenoughtoattemptanything。Ithoughtitallverysuspicious——untilGeoffreymentionedtheman’sname。_That_

certainlyprovedthathehadcastoffhiswife；forImyselfknewthathehadlatelymarriedanotherperson。“

LadyLundiesuddenlystartedupfromherpillow——honestlyagitated；genuinelyalarmedbythistime。

“Mr。Delamayntoldyoutheman’sname？“shesaid，breathlessly。

“Yes。“

“DoIknowit？“

“Don’taskme!“

LadyLundiefellbackonthepillow。

Mrs。Glenarmrosetoringforhelp。Beforeshecouldtouchthebell，herladyshiphadralliedagain。

“Stop!“shecried。“Icanconfirmit!It’strue，Mrs。Glenarm!

it’strue!Openthesilverboxonthetoilet-table——youwillfindthekeyinit。Bringmethetopletter。Here!Lookatit。IgotthisfromBlanche。Whyhaveth