Ellen shed many bitter tears over it in the quiet of her own room.

It had been delivered to her secretly by her old friend Sarah Peters, the miller's daughter, who had been the confidante of her love affairs; for even in his indignation Mr.Randall had been prudent enough to consider that such a missive, falling perchance into Stephen Whitelaw's hands, might work serious mischief.
Cruel as the letter was, Ellen could not leave it quite unanswered; some word in her own defence she must needs write; but her reply was of the briefest.
"There are some things that can never be explained," she wrote, "and my marriage is one of those.

No one could save me from it, you least of all.
There was no help for me; and I believe, with all my heart, that, in acting as I did, I only did my duty.

I had not the courage to write to you beforehand to tell you what was going to be.

I thought it was almost better you should hear it from a stranger.