Excerpt from The Ring and the Veil, Vol. 2 of 3: A Novel But there was one considerable drawback to the satisfaction I experienced. Without revealing any name, I had confided to Wilmot Smith the secret of my happiness; but instead of congratulating me, as I expected, he became very grave - I should rather say, very sad. Lecturing people in such cases, he observed, is, I am aware, of no use; but you have taken a very false step, Rivers, indeed I may almost say a fatal step, for you have rendered yourself responsible for that woman's future, and you know very well, that if her husband were to discover your attachment and desert her, she might absolutely be brought to want a morsel of bread. I say this, he continued, because I fully believe you love the woman, Whoever she may be. If I could think otherwise, our friendship would at once be at an end. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.