“I’ve only just come in; I suppose Lucas didn’t hear me.”

“I suppose not; I’ve been here twice before in search of you, as I conclude you have been told.  I have expected to hear from you daily.”

“Well, yes—­yes,” replied the lawyer in a meditative way; “I am aware that I promised to write—­under certain circumstances.”

“Am I to conclude, then, that you were silent because you had nothing to communicate? that you have obtained no tidings of any kind respecting Mrs. Holbrook?”

Mr. Medler coughed; a cough no less expressive of embarrassment than that of his clerk.

“Why, you see, Mr. Fenton,” he began, crossing his legs, and rubbing his hands in a very deliberate manner, “when I made that promise with reference to Mrs. Holbrook, I made it of course without prejudice to the interests or inclinations of my client.  I might be free to communicate to you any information I received upon this subject—­or I might find myself pledged to withhold it.”

Gilbert’s face flushed with sudden excitement.

“What!” he cried, “do you mean to say that you have solved the mystery of Marian Holbrook’s fate? that you know her to be alive—­safe—­well, and have kept back the knowledge from me?”

“I have been compelled to submit to the wishes of my client.  I will not say that I have not offered considerable opposition to her desire upon this point, but finding her resolution fixed, I was bound to respect it.”

“She is safe—­then all this alarm has been needless?  You have seen her?”

“Yes, Mr. Fenton, I have seen her.”

“And she—­she forbade you to let me know of her safety?  She was willing that I should suffer all the anguish of uncertainty as to her fate?  I could not have believed her so unkind.”

“Mrs. Holbrook had especial reasons for wishing to avoid all communication with former acquaintances.  She explained those reasons to me, and I fully concurred in them.”

“She might have such reasons with regard to other people; she could have none with reference to me.”

“Pardon me, she mentioned your name in a very particular manner.”

“And yet she has had good cause to trust in my fidelity.”

“She has a very great respect and esteem for you, I am aware.  She said as much to me.  But her reasons for keeping her affairs to herself just now are quite apart from her personal feeling for yourself.”

“I cannot understand this.  I am not to see her then, I suppose; not to be told her address?”

“No; I am strictly forbidden to disclose her address to any one.”

“Yet you can positively assure me that she is in safety—­her own mistress—­happy?”

“She is in perfect safety—­her own mistress—­and as happy as it is possible she can be under the unfortunate circumstances of her married life.  She has left her husband for ever; I will venture to tell you so much as that.”