'She thought that the hopelessness of it had made him idealise you, and even that worried her; but when she saw you together, and it seemed--well, concrete treachery--she was furious.' 'It will bring them nearer than they have ever been before,' assured Eugenia. 'Good-bye,' said Anne. 'I'll write to you--once--and tell you what has happened.' 'Do, and be quick; I shall be busy buying yachting dresses. By the way, you might take the telegram.' Anne waited while she wrote-- 'Frightfully sorry, dinner next week unavoidably postponed as unexpectedly leaving town for season. Writing. Eugenia Selsey.' 'I will write to her when I've arranged it with my husband.' Anne took the telegram. CHAPTER XXXV 'That Woman' By the end of their drive Eugenia had quite come to the conclusion that Cecil was as foolish as ever, and that she would not be alone with him again. At first it had amused her to see him once more, but when she saw the infatuation revive, she was bored and sorry--and particularly sorry she had given him the opportunity of expressing it. She had told him, definitely, that she would not see him again except with Hyacinth. He had declared it was merely the excitement of having met her, and implored forgiveness, undertaking in future to regard her as a friend merely. This reconciliation--for they had had quite a quarrel in the cab coming back--and the solemn compact and promise on Cecil's part to ignore the old terms, had led to the invitation that Hyacinth regarded as an insult added to injury. Cecil's conscience, then, as he sat by the fire that night pricked him not at all, for had he not made the best of resolutions? Indeed, privately, he rather plumed himself on his honourable conduct, forgetting perhaps that it was inspired more by Eugenia's attitude than by his own inclination. Probably he hardly realised that, had Eugenia used her influence differently, there was hardly anything he would not have done. To him facts were everything--and he believed he had meant no harm. He was still, he knew, to a great extent under the charm of his old friend. Still, that did not seem to have anything to do with his love for Hyacinth. He did not believe her threat of leaving him, but the mere picture of such a thing gave him great pain. He thought that if he had not been exactly in love with her when they married he was now; and could not at all imagine himself living without her. What, then, did he really want? He did not formulate it.