Duncombe, you have much to work for and love in this
life."
"And I must go away from everything just as I had learnt to value
it. Bob has taken a house at Monaco, and writes to me to bring the
children to join him there!"
"At Monaco?"
"At Monaco! Yes, and I know that it is all my own fault. I might
have done anything with him if I had known how. But what could you
expect? I never saw my mother; I never knew a home; I was bred up
at a French school, where if one was not a Roman Catholic there was
not a shred of religion going. I married after my first ball.
Nobody taught me anything; but I could not help having brains, so I
read and caught the tone of the day, and made my own line, while he
went on his."
"And now there is a greater work for you to do, since you have
learnt to do it."
"Ah! learnt too late. When habits are confirmed, and home station
forfeited--What is there left for him or my poor boys to do?"
"A colony perhaps--"
"Damaged goods," she said, smiling sadly.
"Then are you going?"
"As soon as I have seen this fever out, and can dispose of the
things here.
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