and Edward stayed with us in Paris on his way back to London. That was
how it went.

The fact was that in Florence the poor wretch had got hold of a Tartar,
compared with whom Leonora was a sucking kid. He must have had a hell of
a time. Leonora wanted to keep him for--what shall I say--for the good
of her church, as it were, to show that Catholic women do not lose their
men. Let it go at that, for the moment. I will write more about her
motives later, perhaps. But Florence was sticking on to the proprietor
of the home of her ancestors. No doubt he was also a very passionate
lover. But I am convinced that he was sick of Florence within three
years of even interrupted companionship and the life that she led
him....

If ever Leonora so much as mentioned in a letter that they had had a
woman staying with them--or, if she so much as mentioned a woman's name
in a letter to me--off would go a desperate cable in cipher to that poor
wretch at Branshaw, commanding him on pain of an instant and horrible
disclosure to come over and assure her of his fidelity. I daresay he
would have faced it out; I daresay he would have thrown over Florence
and taken the risk of exposure. But there he had Leonora to deal with.
And Leonora assured him that, if the minutest fragment of the real
situation ever got through to my senses, she would wreak upon him the
most terrible vengeance that she could think of. And he did not have a
very easy job. Florence called for more and more attentions from him as
the time went on. She would make him kiss her at any moment of the day;
and it was only by his making it plain that a divorced lady could never
assume a position in the county of Hampshire that he could prevent
her from making a bolt of it with him in her train. Oh, yes, it was a
difficult job for him.

For Florence, if you please, gaining in time a more composed view of
nature, and overcome by her habits of garrulity, arrived at a frame
of mind in which she found it almost necessary to tell me all about
it--nothing less than that. She said that her situation was too
unbearable with regard to me.

She proposed to tell me all, secure a divorce from me, and go with
Edward and settle in California.... I do not suppose that she was really
serious in this. It would have meant the extinction of all hopes of
Branshaw Manor for her. Besides she had got it into her head that
Leonora, who was as sound as a roach, was consumptive. She was always
begging Le