be able to move upon his search. Chatty and
her mother wondered over this, without communicating its contents to any
one. His search!--what did his search mean? There was no search wanted
for those proceedings which he had declared were so easy and so certain
at that far end of the world. Evidently they had not been so easy, and
the words that he used were very strange to the ladies. He had no doubt,
he said, of his success. Doubt! he had spoken of it before he went away
as a thing which only required asking for, to have; and the idea that
there was no doubt at once gave embodiment and force to the doubt which
had never existed. Mrs. Warrender joined the forces of the opposing
party from the moment she had read this letter. After a day or two of
great depression and seriousness, she had taken Chatty into her arms and
advised her to give up the lover, the husband, who was no husband, and
perhaps an unfaithful lover. "I said nothing at first," Mrs. Warrender
had said with tears. "I stood by him when there was so much against him.
I believed every word he said, notwithstanding everything. But now, my
darling,--oh, Chatty, now! He was to be gone for three months at the
outside, and now it is eight: and he was quite sure of being able to
do his business at once. But now he says he has no doubt, and that he
is off on his search. His search for what? Oh, my dearest, I am most
reluctant to say it, but I fear Theo is right. To think of a man trying,
and perhaps trying in vain, to get a divorce in order to marry _you_!
Chatty, it is a thing that cannot be; it is impossible, it is disreputable.
A divorced man is bad enough,--you know how Minnie spoke even of
that,--but a man who is trying for a divorce with the object---- Chatty,
my darling, it is a thing which cannot be."

Chatty was not a girl of many words, nor did she commit herself to
argument: she would enter into no controversy with her mother. She said
only that she was married to Dick. Perhaps he was not married to her:
that might be: and she might never see him again: but she was bound for
ever. And in the meantime, until they knew all the circumstances, how
could they discuss the matter? When Dick returned and gave them the
necessary information, then it would be time enough. In the meantime she
had nothing to say. And nothing more could be got from her. Minnie came
and quoted Eustace: but Chatty only walked out of the room, leaving her
sister in possession of the field