Having once resolved to sacrifice her life to the man she loved; having quieted her conscience by persuading herself that his marriage was a legal mockery, and that she was 'his wife in the sight of Heaven,' she set herself from the first to accomplish the one foremost purpose of so living with him, in the world's eye, as never to raise the suspicion that she was not his lawful wife.

The women are few, indeed, who cannot resolve firmly, scheme patiently, and act promptly where the dearest interests of their lives are concerned.

Mrs.Vanstone--she has a right now, remember, to that name--Mrs.Vanstone had more than the average share of a woman's tenacity and a woman's tact; and she took all the needful precautions, in those early days, which her husband's less ready capacity had not the art to devise--precautions to which they were largely indebted for the preservation of their secret in later times.
"Thanks to these safeguards, not a shadow of suspicion followed them when they returned to England.

They first settled in Devonshire, merely because they were far removed there from that northern county in which Mr.Vanstone's family and connections had been known.

On the part of his surviving relatives, they had no curious investigations to dread.