Page:The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (emended first edition), Volume 3.djvu/199

Rh "Speak out, Miss Eliza!" said I, not deigning to notice the other's buffooneries, "you needn't fear to say anything in my presence—that is true."

"Well," answered she, "perhaps you know already that Mrs. Graham's husband is not really dead, and that she had run away from him?" I started, and felt my face glow; but I bent it over my letter, and went on folding it up as she proceeded, "but perhaps you did not know that she is now gone back to him again, and that a perfect reconciliation has taken place between them? Only think," she continued, turning to the confounded Rose, "what a fool the man must be!"

"And who gave you this piece of intelligence, Miss Eliza?" said I, interrupting my sister's exclamations.

"I had it from a very authentic source, sir."

"From whom, may I ask?"

"From one of the servants at Woodford."

"Oh! I was not aware that you were on