She seems to lead a lonely life in the old farm-house to which her husband brought her immediately after their marriage--a life which few women would care to lead.

And now, John, I want to know how it is you have kept back the truth from me in this matter; that you have treated me with a reserve which I had no right to expect from a friend." "What have I kept from you" "Your knowledge of this man Holbrook." "What makes you suppose that I have any knowledge of him ?" "The fact that he is a friend of Sir David Forster's.

The house in which I found Marian belongs to Sir David, and was lent by him to Mr.
Holbrook." "I do not know every friend of Forster's.

He is a man who picks up his acquaintance in the highways and byways, and drops them when he is tired of them." "Will you tell me, on your honour, that you know nothing of this Mr.
Holbrook ?" "Certainly." Gilbert Fenton gave a weary sigh, and then seated himself silently opposite Mr.Saltram.He could not afford to doubt this friend of his.
The whole fabric of his life must have dropped to pieces if John Saltram had played him false.

His single venture as a lover having ended in shipwreck, he seemed to have nothing left him but friendship; and that kind of hero-worship which had made his friend always appear to him something better than he really was, had grown stronger with him since Marian's desertion.
"O Jack," he said presently, "I could bear anything in this world better than the notion that you could betray me--that you could break faith with me for the sake of another man." "I am not likely to do that.