There were one or two intimate friends--friends who had known him in his
youth--who ventured to ask what this secret was, who appealed to him
frankly to make his trouble known, telling him that sorrow shared was
sorrow lightened; but with a sad smile he only raised his head and
answered that his sorrow was one of which he could not speak. Sometimes
a kindly woman who had known him as boy and man--one with daughters, and
sons of her own--would ask him what was the nature of his sorrow. He
would never tell.
"I cannot explain," he would reply.
Society tried hard to penetrate the mystery. Some said that Lady Arleigh
was insane, and that he had not discovered it until the afternoon of his
wedding-day. Others said that she had a fierce temper, and that he was
unaware of it until they were traveling homeward. These were the most
innocent rumors; others were more scandalous. It was said that he had
discovered some great crime that she had committed. Few such stories;
Lord Arleigh, they declared, was not the man to make so terrible a
mistake.
Then, after a time, all the sensation and wonder died away, society
accepted the fact that Lord Arleigh was unhappily married and had
separated from his wife.
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