One day—it was during the second season which Mrs. Baxendale passed in London—he went to his friend and asked her where Emily was. Mrs. Baxendale was too quick for him; Wilfrid thought he had put his question unexpectedly, but the lady was ready for such a question at any moment, and she replied, with appearance of absolute sincerity, that she had no knowledge of Emily’s place of abode.
‘Where was she last—when you last heard from her?’ Wilfrid asked, in surprise at an answer so unanticipated.
Mrs. Baxendale named a town in Yorkshire. She had begun with a calculated falsehood, and had no scruple in backing it up by others.
‘What can it concern you, Wilfrid?’ she continued. ‘Shall I confess my weakness? I mentioned your name in a letter to her; the result was this complete ending of our
