To meet her again would be to forget every tie save that holiest which made one of his spirit and of hers.
One day--it was during the second season which Mrs.Baxendale passed in London--he went to his friend and asked her where Emily was.

Mrs.
Baxendale was too quick for him; Wilfrid thought he had put his question unexpectedly, but the lady was ready for such a question at any moment, and she replied, with appearance of absolute sincerity, that she had no knowledge of Emily's place of abode.
'Where was she last--when you last heard from her ?' Wilfrid asked, in surprise at an answer so unanticipated.
Mrs.Baxendale named a town in Yorkshire.

She had begun with a calculated falsehood, and had no scruple in backing it up by others.
'What can it concern you, Wilfrid ?' she continued.

'Shall I confess my weakness?
I mentioned your name in a letter to her; the result was this complete ending of our correspondence.

Now, will not even that satisfy you ?' He did not doubt what he was told; Mrs.Baxendale's character for veracity stood high.