“I don’t know what to do. Gordon is a dear, but he just won’t understand there are men who can do something else beside worry about business all day long.” She took a Russian cigarette from her vanity case and I lit it for her. “It makes it so embarrassing!” She turned suddenly to me. “What would you say if I were to tell you that Guy and I were engaged to be married?” I thought the woman had no further shocks in store for me and I was stunned. She seemed to enjoy my open-mouthed amazement. “I know I do things in my own strange way. But I’ve been thinking deeply about this, I assure you. And I’ve just about made up my mind. I want you to wireless all the newspapers and tell them that just as soon as we reach Havana, Guy Thomas and I will be married. The decree is final. I’m free to marry if I want to. And Guy has always been free.” I breathed deeply. I shared some of Rice’s feelings towards the actor. “But are you sure it’s wise?” Then I added hastily, “Of course, I don’t mean your marriage. I don’t presume to discuss that. But you know an announcement like that would only confirm your husband’s charges. It would only confirm the gossip.” “I can’t help that!” Mrs. Breese shook her head obstinately. “It’s my husband’s own fault. I assure you I never looked at Guy as anything but a nice young man until the trial. But now I’ve discovered I love him, and nothing the world can say or do will part us.” Mrs. Breese was huskily melodramatic, as if the entire universe at that moment were in conspiracy to deprive her of her true love. “Of course, you’ll have to word it very discreetly. You can quote me as saying that through common suffering at the trial, we were thrown together. We discovered that our friendship had ripened into something deeper, more significant.” I nodded miserably. “I want the world to understand that for twenty-six years I have tried to do my duty as a wife to a man I did not love. I married Henry Breese because my family insisted on it. I made my sacrifice.” She looked annoyed at me. “But you’re not taking a note!” “I’ll remember every word,” I assured her. She seemed doubtful. “It was through no act of mine that I was freed from my dreadful burden.... I do wish you’d take notes.... Very well ... our union was wrecked despite all my efforts to preserve it for the sake of our children. Mr. Breese wanted to make me an outcast. But there is still some justice in this world, and I was exonerated. I was made free. And in my struggles I discovered that Guy Thomas and I were meant for one another. I still have my life to live, now that I have done my duty to my husband and my children. I intend to capture some happiness for myself.... I don’t see how you’re going to remember all this.... _Very_ well.... Of course, ours will be a companionate marriage.... That is distinctly understood.... There shall be no primitive possession.... Ours will be a union of faith and understanding....”