' Then she brought out of her pocket a note, which
Lady Mary read,--covered with blushes as she did so. The note was
as follows:
'The Duke of Omnium understands from Mrs Finn's
letter that Mrs Finn, while she was the Duke's guest at
Matching, was aware of a certain circumstance affecting
the Duke's honour and happiness,--which circumstance she
certainly did not communicate to the Duke. The Duke
thinks that the trust which had been placed in Mrs Finn
should have made such a communication imperative. The
Duke feels that no further correspondence between
himself and Mrs Finn on the matter could lead to any
good result.'
'Do you understand it?' asked Mrs Finn.
'I think so.'
'It simply means this,--that when at Matching he had thought me
worthy of having for a time the charge of you and your welfare,
that he had trusted me, who was the friend of your dear mother, to
take for time in regard to you the place which had been so
unhappily left vacant by her death; and it means also that I
deceived and betrayed that trust by being privy to an engagement
on your part, of which he disapproves, and of which he was not
then aware.
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