But that Varick, being the gentleman he was, had not minded what he did to earn an honest living, and that through Dr.Weatherfield he had obtained for a while employment with a chemist, his work being that of taking round the medicines, as he was not of course qualified to make up prescriptions.
While Miss Weatherfield had babbled on, Blanche had been able to piece together what had evidently been a singularly painful story.

Mrs.Varick had been a violent, disagreeable woman, and the kindly spinster had felt deeply sorry for the husband, himself little more than a boy.

But she admitted that her father, while attending Mrs.Varick, had acquired a prejudice against the husband of his patient, and she added, smilingly, that it was without her father's knowledge or consent that she had given the young man, after the death of his wife, a valuable business introduction.
Miss Weatherfield evidently flattered herself that this introduction had been a turning-point in Varick's life, and that what appeared to her his present prosperity was owing to what she had done.

In any case, he had shown his gratitude by keeping in touch with her, and on the rare occasions when she came to London, they generally met.
Blanche Farrow, even in those early days, was too much a woman of the world to feel as surprised as some people would have been.

All the same, she had felt disconcerted and a little pained, that the man who was fond of telling her that she was his only real friend in the world had concealed from her so important a fact as that of his marriage.
After some hesitation she had made up her mind to tell him of her new-found knowledge, and at once he had filled in and coloured the sketchy outlines of the picture drawn by the rather foolish if kindly natured Miss Weatherfield.