I do not know how long I may be here, or where I may be three months hence." Maurice looked at her in surprise.

That she, who for twelve years had never quitted her home for a single night, should speak thus of leaving it without visible cause or preparation, seemed almost incredible.
She answered his look.
"Yes, I am serious.

A dreadful trouble is threatening me, and to save myself and Lucia, I may have to go away.

No one knows anything of it.
Now that you are leaving us, I dare say so much to you." "This, then, is why you have changed so, lately?
Could not you have trusted me before ?" "It would have been useless; no one can help me." Her voice seemed changed and broken, and she had grown ashy pale in alluding to the dreadful subject.

Maurice could not bear to leave her in this uncertainty.
"Dear Mrs.Costello," he said, "if you had a son you would let him share your anxieties.