He had heard the story in Downing
Street, and if so it must be true. Of course she would go down to the
Duchess at the hour fixed. It was now a little after three, and she
ordered the carriage to be ready for her at a quarter past five. Then
she told the servant, at first to admit no one who might call, and
then to come up and let her know, if any one should come, without
sending the visitor away. It might be that some one would come to her
expressly from Phineas, or at least with tidings about this affair.
Then she read the letter again, and those few last words in it stuck
to her thoughts like a burr. "Think of Lady Laura, with one mad and
the other in Newgate." Was this man,--the only man whom she had ever
loved,--more to Lady Laura Kennedy than to her; or rather, was Lady
Laura more to him than was she herself? If so, why should she fret
herself for his sake? She was ready enough to own that she could
sacrifice everything for him, even though he should be standing as a
murderer in the dock, if such sacrifice would be valued by him.
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