hand the price of that tiara at
Forli's or..." And she turned her back on him.

Edward went mad; his world stood on its head; the palms in front of the
blue sea danced grotesque dances. You see, he believed in the virtue,
tenderness and moral support of women. He wanted more than anything to
argue with La Dolciquita; to retire with her to an island and point out
to her the damnation of her point of view and how salvation can only
be found in true love and the feudal system. She had once been his
mistress, he reflected, and by all the moral laws she ought to have gone
on being his mistress or at the very least his sympathetic confidante.
But her rooms were closed to him; she did not appear in the hotel.
Nothing: blank silence. To break that down he had to have twenty
thousand pounds. You have heard what happened. He spent a week of
madness; he hungered; his eyes sank in; he shuddered at Leonora's touch.
I dare say that nine-tenths of what he took to be his passion for
La Dolciquita was really discomfort at the thought that he had been
unfaithful to Leonora. He felt uncommonly bad, that is to say--oh,
unbearably bad, and he took it all to be love. Poor devil, he was
incredibly naive. He drank like a fish after Leonora was in bed and he
spread himself over the tables, and this went on for about a fortnight.
Heaven knows what would have happened; he would have thrown away every
penny that he possessed.

On the night after he had lost about forty thousand pounds and whilst
the whole hotel was whispering about it, La Dolciquita walked composedly
into his bedroom. He was too drunk to recognize her, and she sat in his
arm-chair, knitting and holding smelling salts to her nose--for he was
pretty far gone with alcoholic poisoning--and, as soon as he was able to
understand her, she said:

"Look here, mon ami, do not go to the tables again. Take a good sleep
now and come and see me this afternoon."

He slept till the lunch-hour. By that time Leonora had heard the news.
A Mrs Colonel Whelan had told her. Mrs Colonel Whelan seems to have been
the only sensible person who was ever connected with the Ashburnhams.
She had argued it out that there must be a woman of the harpy variety
connected with Edward's incredible behaviour and mien; and she advised
Leonora to go straight off to Town--which might have the effect of
bringing Edward to his senses--and to consult her solicitor and her
spiritual adviser. She had better go that very