Of course, even if your heart had not been broken, it would be impossible for you to think of another man as long as your husband is living.

No pure woman could do that, and when people tell me about divorced women who remarry, I always maintain that they are not what my mother and I would call "pure women." I would rather think of you nursing your broken heart forever in solitude than that you should put such a blot upon your character and the name of the Carrs.

Of course, you were right to divorce George after he forsook you for Florrie--even his mother tells everybody that you were right--but the thought of a second marriage would, I know, be intolerable to your refined and sensitive nature.

After all, he is still your husband in the sight of God, and I said this to Miss Lizzie Peyton when we were talking of Arthur.
It is almost eleven o'clock, and I must stop and undress.

Kiss the dear children, and remember me kindly to Miss Polly.
Your loving MOTHER.
As she refolded the letter Gabriella stood for an instant with her dreaming gaze on the delicate Italian handwriting on the envelope.
"It's amazing how wide the gulf is between the generations," she thought, not without humour.