"No; with the child. Beatty at first was hidden away, and Roger could find no traces of her. But for a few weeks she was sent to stay with a Mrs. Verrier at Philadelphia, and Roger was allowed to see her, while Mrs. Barnes negotiated. It was a frightful dilemma! If he submitted, Mrs. Barnes promised that Beatty should go to him for two months every year; if not, and she obtained her decree, and the custody of the child, as she was quite confident of doing, he should never--as far as she could secure it--see Beatty again. He too, foresaw that she would win her suit. He was sorely tempted; but he stood firm. Then before he could make up his mind what to do as to the child, the suit came on, Mrs. Barnes got her decree, and the custody of the little girl." "On the ground of 'cruelty,' I understand, and 'indignities'?" French nodded. His thin cheek flushed. "And by the help of evidence that any liar could supply!" "Who were her witnesses?" "Beatty's nurse--one Agnes Farmer--and a young fellow who had been employed on the decorative work at Heston. There were relations between these two, and Roger tells me they have married lately, on a partnership bought by Mrs. Barnes. While the work was going on at Heston the young man used to put up at an inn in the country town, and talk scandal at the bar." "Then there was some local scandal--on the subject of Barnes and Mrs. Fairmile?" "Possibly. Scandal _pour rire_! Not a soul believed that there was anything more in it than mischief on the woman's side, and a kind of incapacity for dealing with a woman as she deserved, on the man's. Mrs. Fairmile has been an _intrigante_ from her cradle. Barnes was at one time deeply in love with her. His wife became jealous of her after the marriage, and threw them together, by way of getting at the truth, and he shilly-shallied with the situation, instead of putting a prompt end to it, as of course he ought to have done. He was honestly fond of his wife the whole time, and devoted to his home and his child." "Well, she didn't plead, you say, anything more than 'cruelty' and 'indignities'. The scandal, such as it was, was no doubt part of the 'cruelty'?" French assented. "And you suspect that money played a great part in the whole transaction?" "I don't _suspect_--the evidence goes a long way beyond that. Mrs. Barnes bought the show! I am told there are a thousand ways of doing it." Penrose smoked and pondered. "Well, then--what happened? I imagine that by this time Barnes had not much affection left for his wife?"