at thing was that there should be no scandal before the
congregation. So she had clung to the idea of getting Edward back with a
fierce passion that was like an agony. She had looked the other way; she
had occupied herself solely with one idea. That was the idea of having
Edward appear, when she did get him back, wealthy, glorious as it were,
on account of his lands, and upright. She would show, in fact, that in
an unfaithful world one Catholic woman had succeeded in retaining the
fidelity of her husband. And she thought she had come near her desires.

Her plan with regard to Maisie had appeared to be working admirably.
Edward had seemed to be cooling off towards the girl. He did not
hunger to pass every minute of the time at Nauheirn beside the child's
recumbent form; he went out to polo matches; he played auction bridge
in the evenings; he was cheerful and bright. She was certain that he was
not trying to seduce that poor child; she was beginning to think that
he had never tried to do so. He seemed in fact to be dropping back
into what he had been for Maisie in the beginning--a kind, attentive,
superior officer in the regiment, paying gallant attentions to a bride.
They were as open in their little flirtations as the dayspring from on
high. And Maisie had not appeared to fret when he went off on excursions
with us; she had to lie down for so many hours on her bed every
afternoon, and she had not appeared to crave for the attentions of
Edward at those times. And Edward was beginning to make little advances
to Leonora. Once or twice, in private--for he often did it before
people--he had said: "How nice you look!" or "What a pretty dress!"
She had gone with Florence to Frankfurt, where they dress as well as
in Paris, and had got herself a gown or two. She could afford it, and
Florence was an excellent adviser as to dress. She seemed to have got
hold of the clue to the riddle.

Yes, Leonora seemed to have got hold of the clue to the riddle. She
imagined herself to have been in the wrong to some extent in the past.
She should not have kept Edward on such a tight rein with regard to
money. She thought she was on the right tack in letting him--as she
had done only with fear and irresolution--have again the control of his
income. He came even a step towards her and acknowledged, spontaneously,
that she had been right in husbanding, for all those years, their
resources. He said to her one day:

"You've done right, old girl.