"My
past life!" she thought. "What will he think of me when he knows my past
life?"
She made another effort, and broke the seal. A second letter dropped out
of the inclosure, addressed to her in a handwriting with which she was
not familiar. She put the second letter aside and read the lines which
Norah had written:
"Ventnor, Isle of Wight, August 24th.
"MY DEAREST MAGDALEN--When you read this letter, try to think we have
only been parted since yesterday; and dismiss from your mind (as I have
dismissed from mine) the past and all that belongs to it.
"I am strictly forbidden to agitate you, or to weary you by writing
a long letter. Is it wrong to tell you that I am the happiest woman
living? I hope not, for I can't keep the secret to myself.
"My darling, prepare yourself for the greatest surprise I have ever
caused you. I am married. It is only a week to-day since I parted with
my old name--it is only a week since I have been the happy wife of
George Bartram, of St. Crux.
"There were difficulties at first in the way of our marriage, some of
them, I am afraid, of my making. Happily for me, my husband knew from
the beginning that I really loved him: he gave me a second chance of
telling him so, after I had lost the first, and, as you see, I was wise
enough to take it.
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