第99章

“Ithinkthereisnodoubtofthat。Even_his_hatredofhisbrother’swidowcanhardlygotothelength——afterleavingmyletterunanswered——ofclosinghisdoorsagainstmenext。“

“Howwillyoumanageitwhenyougetthere？“

“WhenIgetthere，mydear，Ishallbebreathinganatmosphereoftreacheryanddeceit；and，formypoorchild’ssake(abhorrentasalldissimulationistome)，ImustbecarefulwhatIdo。NotawordwillescapemylipsuntilIhavefirstseenBlancheinprivate。Howeverpainfulitmaybe，Ishallnotshrinkfrommyduty，ifmydutycompelsmetoopenhereyestothetruth。SirPatrickandMr。BrinkworthwillhavesomebodyelsebesidesaninexperiencedyoungcreaturetodealwithonMondaynext。Ishallbethere。“

Withthatformidableannouncement，LadyLundieclosedtheconversation；andMrs。Glenarmrosetotakeherleave。

“WemeetattheJunction，dearLadyLundie？“

“AttheJunction，onSaturday。“

“ICAN’Tbelieveit!Iwon’tbelieveit!You’retryingtopartmefrommyhusband——you’retryingtosetmeagainstmydearestfriend。It’sinfamous。It’shorrible。WhathaveIdonetoyou？

Oh，myhead!myhead!Areyoutryingtodrivememad？“

Paleandwild；herhandstwistedinherhair；herfeethurryingheraimlesslytoandfrointheroom——soBlancheansweredherstep-mother，whentheobjectofLadyLundie’spilgrimagehadbeenaccomplished，andthecrueltruthhadbeenplainlytold。

Herladyshipsat，superblycomposed，lookingoutthroughthewindowattheplacidlandscapeofwoodsandfieldswhichsurroundedHamFarm。

“Iwaspreparedforthisoutbreak，“shesaid，sadly。“Thesewildwordsrelieveyourover-burdenedheart，mypoorchild。Icanwait，Blanche——Icanwait!“

Blanchestopped，andconfrontedLadyLundie。

“YouandIneverlikedeachother，“shesaid。“Iwroteyouapertletterfromthisplace。IhavealwaystakenAnne’spartagainstyou。Ihaveshownyouplainly——rudely，Idaresay——thatIwasgladtobemarriedandgetawayfromyou。Thisisnotyourrevenge，isit？“

“Oh，Blanche，Blanche，whatthoughtstothink!whatwordstosay!

Icanonlyprayforyou。“

“Iammad，LadyLundie。Youbearwithmadpeople。Bearwithme。I

havebeenhardlymorethanafortnightmarried。Ilove_him_——I

love_her_——withallmyheart。Rememberwhatyouhavetoldmeaboutthem。Remember!remember!remember!“

Shereiteratedthewordswitha