There were others not so merciful. Colonel
Fairfax's wife was told of his devotion to mine at Florence, and the duel
which ended our acquaintance. She found out something of his subsequent
meetings with your mother, and her jealousy brought about a separation. It
was managed quietly enough, but not without scandal; and nothing but my
determination to maintain my wife's position could have saved her from
utter disgrace. Yes, Clarissa, I loved her to the last, but the misery of
that last year was something that no words can tell. She died in my arms,
and in her latest hours of consciousness thanked me for what she called my
generosity. I went straight from her funeral to London, with a bundle of
letters in my pocket, to find Temple Fairfax. What might have happened
between us, had we met, I can scarcely guess; but there were no scruples on
my side. Fortune favoured him, however; he had sailed for India a few weeks
before, in command of his regiment. I had some thoughts of following him
even there, but abandoned the notion. My wrongs would keep. I waited for
his return, but that never happened. He was killed in Afghanistan, and
carried to his Indian grave the reputation of one of the worst men and best
soldiers who ever bore the king's commission."
This was all. To speak of these things had profoundly agitated Marmaduke
Lovel; but a sudden impulse had moved this man, who was apt to be so silent
about himself and his own feelings, and he had been in a manner constrained
to tell this story.
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