"
"I have."
"I almost fancy you once heard her sing--at Homburg."
"I did."
"Then I am sure you must have admired her, being a gentleman of taste.
Well, sir, it is near a fortnight since I heard from her."
"Well, sir?"
"You will say what is that to you? But the truth is, she left me, in
London, to do certain business for her, and she went down to this very
place. I offered to come with her, but she declined. To be sure, it was a
delicate matter, and not at all in my way. She was to write to me and
report progress, and give me her address, that I might write to her; but
nearly a fortnight has passed. I have not received a single letter. I am
in real distress and anxiety. A great career awaits her in England, sir;
but this silence is so mysterious, so alarming, that I begin actually to
hope she has played the fool, and thrown it all up, and gone abroad with
that blackguard."
"What blackguard, sir?"
Joseph drew in his horns. "I spoke too quick, sir," said he; "it is no
business of mine. But these brilliant women are as mad as the rest in
throwing away their affections. They prefer a blackguard to a good man.
It is the rule.
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