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But you think too hardly of mankind: some one, even amongst them, will be found to stand up in his defence now in his hour of need. Robinair, for instance; he will bestir himself vigorously. He is in credit with people in power: he has always been warm in his expressions of friendship, I may say of admiration, for Mr. Arden. He will find means to influence them in his favour.

Alas, alas! does our hope hang on this point? I fear, indeed, that he has too much committed himself to this man: he hinted to me something of the kind, which, more than any other unfavourable circumstance, makes me tremble.

Why, how is this? I thought Robinair had been your friend, too. I have always understood, though I was then too young to be admitted into your confidence, that he was attached to you before you married. And has he not, ever since his return from abroad, befriended your husband in all the embarrassments into which his imprudence has thrown him?

Rather say that, in the bitterness of