The lady had long been dead, and could be none the better or the worse for aught that could be said of her.

To the captain it was not so, and it was preferable to him to believe his father to be dishonest than his mother.

He, at any rate, was in truth in love with his cousin Florence, and when the story was told to him one of its first effects was the bearing which it would have upon her mind.
It has been said that within two or three days after the communication he had left London.

He had done so in order that he might at once go down to Cheltenham and see his cousin.

There Miss Mountjoy lived, with her mother.
The time had been when Florence Mountjoy had been proud of her cousin, and, to tell the truth of her feelings, though she had never loved him, she had almost done so.