“I have something to tell you,” she began, not taking the chair she generally used, low and easy, but a higher, more stiff-backed one in which she could assume more dignity; “something that will, I think, surprise you very much.” “Well!” “Gerard is released--is at his uncle’s, Lord Clanfield’s.” “So I heard--yesterday. And you are going to join him there?” Did he, could he, know, the cruelty of this question? It broke down all poor Audrey’s defences, her pride, her self-command; and turning her head away to hide the tears that sprang to her eyes, she bit her trembling lip and tried in vain to recover her coolness. Meanwhile, however, Mr. Candover quickly perceived his mistake. “Oh, what have I done? Believe me, I had no intention of--of--Tell me. I don’t understand yet; what is the position?” After a brief struggle, Audrey regained enough composure to answer, not in a firm, even tone, but in short, broken sentences:-- “They disapprove--Lord Clanfield disapproves strongly, utterly, of what I have done, what I am doing. He dislikes the notion of my being in business, on the one hand, of my receiving guests who gamble on the other. I feel he is justified.” “Well, but surely Gerard doesn’t disapprove! Knowing you were left insufficiently provided for, surely he applauds your spirit in striking out a line for yourself! He wouldn’t be a man if he didn’t!” “He can say nothing. He is ill, very ill. So ill that his best chance is to stay where he is so well cared for, even if--it means----” “Means what?” “Even if it involves a temporary separation.” Mr. Candover leapt to his feet. “Surely,” he cried with passionate excitement, “no man worthy of the name would submit to such a state of things for a moment! He would say: ‘My wife, my poor wife whom I was forced to leave alone and unprotected, is my first care. I will not stay at my ease with the relatives who have snubbed and neglected her, and left her to the kindness and care of people who are not connected with her or with me by any ties but those of friendship!’ Surely, surely, Madame----Audrey, you would never cling so tenderly to a husband who could let you go and keep safe and snug himself in the house of a man who had no respect and regard for his true wife!” Audrey was trembling and again on the verge of tears. She saw that this was a possible view to take of the situation of affairs, even though it was not the right one. She interposed earnestly:-- “You don’t understand. It was I who took upon myself to arrange matters with Lord Clanfield. Knowing that even to Gerard, my engaging in business--not to speak of other things--would be a great shock, I hurried everything through so quickly that we had scarcely met and rejoiced in meeting, when I ran away again. I left him no time to speak, no chance to object. I took advantage of the fact that he couldn’t run after me, to run away!”