"
"Simple little niece, uncle told you a fib; Mr. Talboys is at home.
And observe! until I came to Font Abbey, he was here three times a
week. You admit that. I come; your uncle knows I am not so unobservant
as you, and Mr. Talboys is kept out of sight."
"The proof that my uncle has deceived me," said Lucy, coldly, and with
lofty incredulity.
"Read that note from Miss Dodd!"
"What! you in correspondence with Miss Dodd?"
"That is to say, she has thrust herself into correspondence with
me--just like her assurance."
The letter ran thus:
"DEAR MADAM--My brother requests me to say that, in compliance with
your request, he called at the lodge of Talboys Park, and the people
informed him Mr. Talboys had not left Talboys Park at all since
Easter. I remain yours, etc."
Lucy was dumfounded.
"I suspected something, Lucy, so I asked Mr. Dodd to inquire."
"It was a singular commission to send him on."
"Oh, he takes long walks--cruises, he calls them--and he is so
good-natured. Well, what do you think of your uncle's veracity now?"
Lucy was troubled and distressed, but she mastered her countenance: "I
think he has sacrificed it for once to his affection for me. I fear
you are right; my eyes are opened to many circumstances. But do--oh,
pray do!--see his goodness in all this."
"The goodness of a story-teller."
"He admires Mr. Talboys--he reveres him. No doubt he wished to secure
his poor niece what he thinks a great match, and now you assign ill
motives to him.
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