d it, too. Mrs.
Germaine is surely by this time a person in whom you feel some interest.
And she is on that account, as I think, the fittest person to close the
story. Here is her letter:

"DEAR MADAM (or may I say--'dear friend'?)--Be prepared, if you please,
for a little surprise. When you read these lines we shall have left
London for the Continent.

"After you went away last night, my husband decided on taking this
journey. Seeing how keenly he felt the insult offered to me by the
ladies whom we had asked to our table, I willingly prepared for our
sudden departure. When Mr. Germaine is far away from his false friends,
my experience of him tells me that he will recover his tranquillity.
That is enough for me.

"My little daughter goes with us, of course. Early this morning I drove
to the school in the suburbs at which she is being educated, and took
her away with me. It is needless to say that she was delighted at the
prospect of traveling. She shocked the schoolmistress by waving her hat
over her head and crying 'Hooray,' like a boy. The good lady was very
careful to inform me that my daughter could not possibly have learned to
cry 'Hooray' in _her_ house.

"You have probably by this time read the narrative which I have
committed to your care. I hardly dare ask how I stand in your estimation
now. Is it possible that I might have seen you and your good husband if
we had not left London so suddenly? As things are, I must now tell you
in writing what I should infinitely have preferred saying to you with
your friendly hand in mine.

"Your knowledge of the world has no doubt already attributed the absence
of the ladies at our dinner-table to some report affecting my character.
You are quite right. While I was taking Elfie away from her school, my
husband called on one of his friends who dined with us (Mr. Waring), and
insisted on an explanation. Mr. Waring referred him to the woman who
is known to you by this time as Mr. Van Brandt's lawful wife. In her
intervals of sobriety she possesses some musical talent; Mrs. Waring had
met with her at a concert for a charity, and had been interested in
the story of her wrongs, as she called them. My name was, of course,
mentioned. I was described as a 'cast-off mistress' of Van Brandt, who
had persuaded Mr. Germaine into disgracing himself by marrying her,
and becoming the step-father of her child. Mrs. Waring thereupon
communicated what she had heard to other ladies who we