At last he forged a signature
and was transported. What became of his wife afterwards was not known.
Langborough was not only greatly moved by this intelligence, but was
much perplexed. Miss Tarrant's estimate of the Doctor was once more
reversed. She was decidedly of opinion that the marriage was a scandal.
A woman who had consented to link herself with such a reprobate as the
convict must have been from the beginning could not herself have
possessed any reputation. Living apart, too, was next door to divorce,
and who could associate with a creature who had been divorced? No doubt
she was physically seductive, and the doctor had fallen a victim to her
snares. Miss Tarrant, if she had not known so well what men are, would
never have dreamed that Dr. Midleton, a scholar and a divine, could
surrender to corporeal attractions. She declared that she could no
longer expect any profit from his ministrations, and that she should
leave the parish. Miss Tarrant's friends, however, did not go quite so
far, and Mrs. Harrop confessed to Mrs.
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