"
He looked at her with a smile that said as plainly as the plainest words,
"And those were when I was with you, Clarissa."
She noticed neither the look nor the words that went before it. She was
thinking of her brother, and of him only.
"But you have seen him," she said. "If he is not in England, he must be
very near--in Paris perhaps. I heard you were in Paris."
"Yes; it was in Paris that I saw him."
"So near! O, thank God, I shall see my brother again! Tell me everything
about him, Mr. Fairfax--everything."
"I will. It is best you should have a plain unvarnished account. You
remember the promise I made you at Hale? Well, I tried my utmost to keep
that promise. I hunted up the man I spoke of--a man who had been
an associate of your brother's; but unluckily, there had been no
correspondence between them after Mr. Lovel went abroad; in short, he could
tell me nothing--not even where your brother went. He had only a vague
idea that it was somewhere in Australia. So, you see, I was quite at a
standstill here. I made several attempts in other directions, but all with
the same result; and at last I gave up all hope of ever being of any use to
you in this business."
"You were very kind to take so much trouble."
"I felt quite ashamed of my failure; I feel almost as much ashamed of
my success; for it was perfectly accidental. I was looking at some
water-coloured sketches in a friend's rooms in the Rue du Faubourg St.
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