But it was from an old college friend of my husband's who is now in England." "I do not see any use in telling Lucia.

She dismissed him herself, and is, I hope, fast forgetting him in all these other affairs that have come upon us." "Surely she cannot have cared enough for him to feel the separation as she would have done if he had really been worth loving," Mrs.Bellairs added; and then they left the subject, quite forgetting that reason and love seldom go hand-in-hand, and that Lucia was still devoutly believing in two falsities: first, that Percy was capable of a steady and faithful affection, and secondly, that he must still have something of that affection for her.

Even at this very moment she was comforting her heart with this belief; and the discovery that her mother's dearest friends showed no inclination to desert them in their new character, filled her with a kind of blind sweet confidence in that one whom, as she now thought, she had treated so ungenerously, and who did not yet know their secret.
In the parlour, meanwhile, many things were discussed.

Mrs.Bellairs assured her friend that the necessary arrangements for Christian's release had already been commenced, and that Mr.Bellairs would see that there was not a moment's delay which could be avoided.

On the other hand, however, there was strong in Mrs.Costello's mind the doubt whether her husband would live to be removed.