But how could be this mistake with the deceased lady in the
convent and the child,--whose child was it!
Agnes wrote to her sister that she had intended travelling with the
Southern family to the Continent. When on the oceans the
Franco-Prussian war was declared. They had to stop at Southampton and,
instead of going to Germany, they went to the South of France, and,
as she had no letters from me for some time, she was almost beside
herself. The Southern lady being in such delicate state of health she
could not think of leaving her, but had to accompany her. All
letters sent from or sent to France were carefully inspected by the
Government, and thus it happened that I had not received any
communication for a long time. She had at last expected that
her letters had gone astray, then she had written to her sister,
Mrs. Taylor, asking her to write to me and try to obtain in this
way information about her boy.
Captain Fairfield would have liked to start at once in search of his
darling wife, but Mr. Taylor, who saw the danger for him in going to
France at this time, prevented him from acting rashly, also fearing
that the sudden shock to Agnes in seeing her husband whom she had
bemoaned so long would be of great injury to her health, so it was
decided that Alice should write first, saying in her letter that
there were some hopes of Captain Fairfield being alive.
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