But I--I have no heart to laugh. This
breaking up of your affairs, this exile, this losing you whom we all
love, love so dearly, makes me quite miserable.'
He kissed her hand again.
'I dare say,' she continued, 'you have thought me as heartless as the
rest, because I never spoke. But I knew; that is, I feared; or, rather,
hoped that a great part of what I heard was false; and so I thought
notice was unnecessary, and might be painful. Yet, heaven knows, there
are few subjects that have been oftener in my thoughts, or cost me more
anxiety. Are you sure you have no friend?'
'I have you, Caroline. I did not say I had no friends: I said I had none
among those intimates you talked of; that there was no man among them
capable of the necessary interference, even if he were willing to
undertake it. But I am not friendless, not quite forlorn, dear! My fate
has given me a friend that I but little deserve: one whom, if I had
prized better, I should not perhaps have been obliged to put his
friendship to so severe a trial. To-morrow, Caroline, I depart for
Castle Dacre; there is my friend. Alas! how little have I deserved such
a boon!'
'Dacre!' exclaimed Lady Caroline, 'Mr.
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