She was away for a few minutes, and I heard the cab drive off before she
returned. That was the chief point gained. When the papers were in my
hand, I just glanced at them, and that was all.
"Have you any idea where they came from?" I asked.
"There is the London post-mark on the envelop," answered Foster.--"Show
it to him, Carry. There is nothing to be learned from that."
"No," I said, comparing the handwriting on the envelop with the letter,
and finding them the same. "Well, good-by! I cannot often pay you as
long a visit as this."
I hurried off quickly to the corner of Dawson Street, where Johanna was
waiting for me. She looked exceedingly contented when I took my seat
beside her in the cab.
"Well, Martin," she said, "you need suffer no more anxiety. Olivia has
gone as English teacher in an excellent French school, where the lady is
thoroughly acquainted with English ways and comforts. This is the
prospectus of the establishment. You see there are 'extensive grounds
for recreation, and the comforts of a cheerfully happy home, the
domestic arrangements being on a thoroughly liberal scale.' Here is also
a photographic view of the place: a charming villa, you see, in the best
French style. The lady's husband is an _avocat_; and every thing is
taught by professors--cosmography and pedagogy, and other studies of
which we never heard when I was a girl. Olivia is to stay there twelve
months, and in return for her services will take lessons from any
professors attending the establishment. Your mind may be quite at ease
now."
"But where is the place?" I inquired.
"Oh! it is in Normandy--Noireau," she said--"quite out of the range of
railways and tourists. There will be no danger of any one finding her
out there; and you know she has changed her name altogether this time."
"Did you discover that Olivia and Ellen Martineau are the same persons?"
I asked.
An expression of bewilderment and consternation came across her
contented face.
"No, I did not," she answered; "I thought you were sure of that."
But I was not sure of it; neither could Jack be sure. He puzzled himself
in trying to give a satisfactory description of his Ellen Martineau; but
every answer he gave to my eager questions plunged us into greater
uncertainty. He was not sure of the color either of her hair or eyes,
and made blundering guesses at her height. The chief proof we had of
Olivia's identity was the drunken claim made upon Ellen Martineau by
Foster, a month after he had received convincing proof that she was
dead. What was I to believe?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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