"
This proposal was clearly agreeable to Lady Bassett, and she thanked
him.
"You need not waste words over it," said he. "Write one word, 'ACT!'
That will be the shortest letter you ever wrote."
The rest of the conversation is not worth recording.
Mr. Rolfe instructed a young solicitor minutely, packed his bag, and
waited.
But day after day went by, and the order never came to act.
Mr. Rolfe was surprised at this, and began to ask himself whether he
could have been deceived in this lady's affection for her husband. But
he rejected that. Then he asked himself whether it might have cooled.
He had known a very short incarceration produce that fatal effect. Both
husband and wife interested him, and he began to get irritated at the
delay.
Sir Charles's letters made him think they had already wasted time.
At last a letter came from Gloucester Place.
"Will my kind friend now ACT?
"Gratefully,
"BELLA BASSETT."
Mr. Rolfe, upon this, cast his discontent to the winds and started for
Bellevue House.
On the evening of that day a surgeon called Boddington was drinking tea
with his wife, and they were talking rather disconsolately; for he had
left a fair business in the country, and, though a gentleman of
undoubted skill, was making his way very slowly in London.
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