"'Yes, Madame,' she said, with all her usual composure, 'and to a man I
love with my whole soul, with my whole life. The future may seem dim,
but I have little fear when I remember I am Arthur's wife, and that his
love will be strong to help me whenever I relieve him of the promise I
have obliged him to make not to reveal our marriage. Frank will be
three-and-twenty in one year and a half from now; till then, he cannot,
without great difficulty, harm my father, and by that time I trust his
fancy for me will have passed away, and he will be willing to treat with
my father about his property without personal feeling to aggravate his
sense of the wrong that has been done him. He is in the East now with
Colonel Lucas, his other guardian, who has not been without his
suspicions of Frank's liking for me, and is not at all unwilling, I
think, to keep him out of the way for a while.'

"'Does no one know of this, Lina?' I asked, 'no one suspect it?'

"'Only two persons,' she replied,--'indeed, I may as well tell you at
once, Madame,--beside Mrs. Baxter and her husband, at whose house the
ceremony took place. They were then staying in the neighborhood of
H----, a few miles from my aunt's house. It was at Mrs. Baxter's I first
met Arthur: he was a distant connection of hers. He and his Cousin
Marmaduke had come up for the shooting and fishing for a few weeks in
the autumn. My aunt was a genial, bright old lady, fond of the society
of young people, spite of her ill health, and invited the young men
frequently to her house. In that way I saw a great deal of them both.'

"'Who was the gentleman, Lina? Had you seen him before this visit? But,'
seeing she hesitated, 'if you do not wish to disclose more, say so
frankly; what you have already told me I will guard as a secret,--you
need not fear.'

"'Oh, Madame,' interrupted Lina, suddenly throwing herself on the floor
at my feet, 'it's not that,--do not say that, dear Madame! It is a great
comfort to me to tell you all this; sometimes I feel so lonely when by
any chance I do not get a letter from him the day I expect one.'

"Her voice faltered, and she leaned forward, burying her face in her
hands; I saw her breast shaken with weeping.

"'Tell me all, _ma pauvre petite_!' I said; 'tell me everything.'

"Then seeing she still continued weeping, I said, playfully,--

"'So you get letters from him, do you? I have never known this. You
know, _ma cherie_, that that is against the ru