Chapter XXX.
One of the first questions, after his return, that the Duke of Hazlewood
put to his wife was about Lord Arleigh. She looked at him with an uneasy
smile.
"Am I my brother's keeper?" she asked.
"Certainly not, Philippa; but, considering that Arleigh has been as a
brother to you all these years, you must take some interest in him. Is
this story of his marriage true?"
"True?" she repeated. "Why, of course it is--perfectly true! Do you not
know whom he has married?"
"I am half afraid to ask--half afraid to find that my suspicions have
been realized."
"He has married my companion," said the duchess. "I have no wish to
blame him; I will say nothing."
"It is a great pity that he ever saw her," observed the duke, warmly.
"From all I hear, the man's life is wrecked."
"I warned him," said Philippa, eagerly. "I refused at first to introduce
her to him. I told him that prudence and caution were needful."
"How came it about then, Philippa?"
The duchess shrugged her shoulders.
"There is a fate, I suppose, in these things. He saw her one day when I
was out of the way, and, according to his own account, fell in love with
her on the spot.
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