"Were you in the secret of that marriage at the time when it took place ?" "Unhappily, I was not.

I was away from London--away from England at the time.

If Mr.Vanstone had been able to communicate with me when the letter from America announced the death of his wife, the fortunes of his daughters would not have been now at stake." He paused, and, before proceeding further, looked once more at the letters which he had consulted at an earlier period of the interview.

He took one letter from the rest, and put it on the table by his side.
"At the beginning of the present year," he resumed, "a very serious business necessity, in connection with some West Indian property possessed by an old client and friend of mine, required the presence either of myself, or of one of my two partners, in Jamaica.

One of the two could not be spared; the other was not in health to undertake the voyage.