Prev | Current Page 505 | Next

Collins, Wilkie, 1824-1889

"No Name"


"Norah's letter, no doubt, tells you that she has left her situation. I
feel it my painful duty to add that she has left it on your account.
"The matter occurred in this manner. Messrs. Wyatt, Pendril, and Gwilt
are the solicitors of the gentleman in whose family Norah was employed.
The life which you have chosen for yourself was known as long ago as
December last to all the partners. You were discovered performing in
public at Derby by the person who had been employed to trace you at
York; and that discovery was communicated by Mr. Wyatt to Norah's
employer a few days since, in reply to direct inquiries about you on
that gentleman's part. His wife and his mother (who lives with him)
had expressly desired that he would make those inquiries; their doubts
having been aroused by Norah's evasive answers when they questioned her
about her sister. You know Norah too well to blame her for this. Evasion
was the only escape your present life had left her, from telling a
downright falsehood.
"That same day, the two ladies of the family, the elder and the younger,
sent for your sister, and told her they had discovered that you were a
public performer, roaming from place to place in the country under an
assumed name.


Pages:
493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517