"
"If it be possible she is more so," returned Lord Arleigh; "but tell me,
if I had appealed to you in the dilemma--if I had asked your
advice--what would you have said to me?"
"I should have no resource but to tell you to act as you have done,"
replied the earl; "no matter what pain and sorrow it entailed you could
not have done otherwise."
"I thought you would agree with me. And now, Mountdean, tell me, do you
see any escape from my difficulty?"
"I do not, indeed," replied the earl.
"I had one hope," resumed Lord Arleigh; "and that was that the father
had perhaps been unjustly sentenced, or that he might after all prove
to be innocent. I went to see him--he is one of the convicts working at
Chatham."
"You went to see him!" echoed the earl, in surprise.
"Yes; and I gave up all hope from the moment I saw him. He is simply a
handsome reprobate. I asked him if it was true that he had committed the
crime, and he answered me quite frank, 'Yes.' I asked him if there were
any extenuating circumstances; he replied 'want of money.' When I had
seen and spoken to him, I felt convinced that the step I had taken with
regard to my wife was a wise one, however cruel it may have been.
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