“Dearest Jean!” said Miss Leslie, touched to the quick, and this time insisting upon a hearing. “I strong? Dear Aubrey knows better than to believe--”
“Oh yes, we all know, my dear, you are strong at bottom, though you have your little ailments; and with me it is just the other way. I am kept up by my spirit. Now, Aubrey, you have not given us one single piece of news. Tell us something about the Court.”
“I appeal to your candor, Aunt Jean; what can I tell you about the Court when I am fresh from town?--unless you mean the other kind of a court, the royal one, or the Club. You shall hear, if you please, about the Club. You know about that trial that was so much talked of? It is to be all hushed up, I believe. _She_ is to be condoned, and _he_ is to have his debts paid, and they are all to live happy ever after. You should hear Mountfort on the subject. He says it will not be six months before it is all on again, and the detectives at work.”
“Is it possible?” cried Mrs. Bellingham. “I thought Lady Arabella had really taken the last step and run off, you know, in the yacht; and that Lord Fred--”
“No names, my dear aunt, I entreat. Of course, everybody knows who is meant, but it is better not to bandy names about. Oh no; my lady would have done it, I don’t doubt for a moment, but Fred is a fellow who knows very well how far the world will permit you to go, and he wouldn’t hear of it; so it is all hushed up. There is something very piquant, however, going on in another quarter, where you would never suspect it. It sounds just like a romance. A couple that have always been one of the most devoted couples, and a friend who has been the most devoted friend--husband’s school-fellow, you know, and saved his life in India, or something--and there they are, the three of them; everybody sees it, except the silly fellow himself. It’s as good as a play to watch them; you know whom I mean. They have a place not a hundred miles from us; wife the most innocent, smiling creature--”
“Ah!” cried Miss Leslie, holding up her hands, “I can see who you me--”
“Of course, anybody can see,” said Mrs. Bellingham. “The A.’s, of course, of A. C. Do you really mean it, Aubrey? and the man? Goodness gracious! why, of course it must be!--no--not that, don’t say so--Algy--? I never heard of such a complication in all my life.”