So that there were real tears shed by both Miss Hurlbird and
Miss Florence before I left that city. I left it quite abruptly. Four
hours after Edward's telegram came another from Leonora, saying:
"Yes, do come. You could be so helpful." I simply told my
attorney that there was the million and a half; that he could invest
it as he liked, and that the purposes must be decided by the Misses
Hurlbird. I was, anyhow, pretty well worn out by all the
discussions. And, as I have never heard yet from the Misses
Hurlbird, I rather think that Miss Hurlbird, either by revelations or
by moral force, has persuaded Miss Florence that no memorial to
their names shall be erected in the city of Waterbury, Conn. Miss
Hurlbird wept dreadfully when she heard that I was going to stay
with the Ashburnhams, but she did not make any comments. I was
aware, at that date, that her niece had been seduced by that fellow
Jimmy before I had married her--but I contrived to produce on her
the impression that I thought Florence had been a model wife.
Why, at that date I still believed that Florence had been perfectly
virtuous after her marriage to me. I had not figured it out that she
could have played it so low down as to continue her intrigue with
that fellow under my roof.
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