he other
women, was a necessary part of their situation. She was sure that, as
little Breckenridge would have said, she could "pull it off"; but she
did not want to think about it. What she would have preferred would have
been to go away--no matter where and not see Strefford again till they
were married. But she dared not tell him that either.

"A little house in London--?" She wondered.

"Well, I suppose you've got to have some sort of a roof over your head."

"I suppose so."

He sat down beside her. "If you like me well enough to live at
Altringham some day, won't you, in the meantime, let me provide you with
a smaller and more convenient establishment?"

Still she hesitated. The alternative, she knew, would be to live on
Ursula Gillow, Violet Melrose, or some other of her rich friends, any
one of whom would be ready to lavish the largest hospitality on the
prospective Lady Altringham. Such an arrangement, in the long run,
would be no less humiliating to her pride, no less destructive to
her independence, than Altringham's little establishment. But she
temporized. "I shall go over to London in December, and stay for a while
with various people--then we can look about."

"All right; as you like." He obviously considered her hesitation
ridiculous, but was too full of satisfaction at her having started
divorce proceedings to be chilled by her reply.

"And now, look here, my dear; couldn't I give you some sort of a ring?"

"A ring?" She flushed at the suggestion. "What's the use, Streff, dear?
With all those jewels locked away in London--"

"Oh, I daresay you'll think them old-fashioned. And, hang it, why
shouldn't I give you something new, I ran across Ellie and Bockheimer
yesterday, in the rue de la Paix, picking out sapphires. Do you like
sapphires, or emeralds? Or just a diamond? I've seen a thumping one....
I'd like you to have it."

Ellie and Bockheimer! How she hated the conjunction of the names! Their
case always seemed to her like a caricature of her own, and she felt an
unreasoning resentment against Ellie for having selected the same season
for her unmating and re-mating.

"I wish you wouldn't speak of them, Streff... as if they were like us! I
can hardly bear to sit in the same room with Ellie Vanderlyn."

"Hullo? What's wrong? You mean because of her giving up Clarissa?"

"Not that only.... You don't know.... I can't tell you...." She shivered
at the memory, and rose restlessly from the bench