no one else. Then, it was known that when
Margaret was in the habit of taking long walks alone, towards the end of
the winter, she was met occasionally by her brother-in-law in his
rides--naturally enough. Their conversation had been overheard, once at
least, when they consulted about the peace of their home--how much of a
certain set of circumstances they should communicate to Mrs Hope, and
whether or not Mr Enderby was engaged to a lady abroad. Without these
testimonies, Enderby felt that he had only to recur to his own
experience to be convinced that Margaret had never loved him, though
striving to persuade herself, as well as him, that she did. The
calmness with which she had received his avowals that first evening last
winter, struck him with admiration at the time: he now understood it
better. He wondered he had felt so little till now the coldness of the
tone of her correspondence. The first thing which awakened him to an
admission of it, was her refusal to marry him in the spring. She
shrank, as she avowed, from leaving her present residence--she might
have said, from quitting those she loved best.

It was clear that in marrying she was to make a sacrifice to duty--to
secure innocence and safety for herself and those who were dearest to
her; and that, when the time drew near, she recoiled from the effort.
Enderby was thankful that all had become clear in time for her release
and his own.

The horror with which Hope listened to this was beyond what he had
prepared himself for--beyond all that he had yet endured. Enderby
seemed quite willing to hear him; but what could be said? Only that
which he had planned. His protest against the truth of certain of the
statements, and the justice of some of the constructions of facts, was
strong. He declared that, in his perfect satisfaction with his domestic
state, his happiness with his beloved and honoured wife, he would admit
of no question about his family affairs, as far as he and Hester were
concerned. He denied at once and for ever, all that went to show that
Margaret had for a moment regarded him otherwise than as a friend and a
brother; and declared that the bare mention to her of the idea which was
uppermost in Enderby's mind would be a cruelty and insult which could
never be retrieved. He was not going to plead for her. Bitterly as she
must suffer, it was from a cause which lay too deep for cure--from a
want of faith in her in one who ought to know h