"Wait a moment," said Toni. "Eva, if I made up my mind to leave Owen--for his own sake--how could I prevent him fetching me back?" "You really mean it?" Eva's tone sent a chill through Toni's veins. "Supposing you really saw that it was for Owen's good--that by remaining with him you were spoiling his life, ruining his career--making him unhappy, in short--you mean in _that_ case how could you prevent him searching for you?" "Yes," Toni said, her eyes on the fire, "that is what I mean." "There's only one way, Toni." She was careful to speak lightly. "If you went away with another man----" for a moment even her nerve failed her, but she conquered her weakness and went on calmly, and her grey Irish eyes were as cold as ice as she looked at Toni. "Then your husband would probably divorce you, and devote himself to his career." For a second Toni's pallor alarmed her. All the girl's colour died away, leaving her curiously white round the mouth, a sign of emotion to which Eva was not blind; and Mrs. Herrick wondered, uneasily, if Toni were about to faint. But Toni was in no fainting mood. "You think that, Eva? You think that if I were gone--out of his life altogether--Owen would forget me and find happiness in his work?" "I think so, yes. Oh, Toni, I know I seem unkind," said Eva, Judas-like. "Believe me I wouldn't have told you if you hadn't pressed me. It only struck me that perhaps--you will forgive me, dear?--perhaps you didn't manage to make your husband very happy--and if you really did want him to forget you----" "No, I don't make him happy," said Toni with a sigh. "It is funny, isn't it, when I love him so much? But you're right in one thing. I am spoiling his life; and my going away won't help him unless I go for good." "If you merely go, without any apparent reason, your husband will be miserable, unsettled, give up everything to find you, to bring you back----" She was startled by a sudden exclamation from Toni. "But, Eva, if you're so sure he'd want me back----" "Why should you go?" Eva smiled a little, patiently. "Don't you see, dear, if you go like that, Mr. Rose will be so alarmed, so upset, that of course he'll want to find you. He would think you'd perhaps run away because you were unhappy, and he'd do all he could to get you back on your own account. Oh, I know Mr. Rose is very fond of you, Toni"--somehow her very inflection made Toni's conception of Owen's love shrivel into nothingness--"and he couldn't rest if he thought you were unhappy. He would bring you back, and things would be just the same again. He would do his work, helped by Miss Loder, I suppose, and you would go on as you are now. After all, Toni, you know you have a lot to be grateful for." She looked at the girl to see how far she might safely go, but Toni never moved; and Eva was emboldened to proceed.