"So that is it! Manager--ha, ha, ha! But, of course, I might have
known, it is quite plain, she wants you for herself--the old cow!
_Naturellement!_"

"S'sh, Therese, for God's sake----"

"Well, isn't it true? What can you do on a ranch? Why does she want
you if not for herself? Do you deny it?"

"What's the use of denying anything? You'll believe what you want to
believe."

He sounded cold, indifferent. The woman made an impulsive gesture.

"Ah, _mon cher_, now I have hurt you! Naturally I know you cannot care
for this creature, this mountain of fat, _cette espece de vache
espagnole_"--she uttered the epithet literally through her teeth--"but
all the same I know that she wants you, and I also know that if you go
so far away--thousands and thousands of miles--it will be the end. You
know it too."

Out of the tail of her eye, Esther saw the young man merely shrug his
shoulders. She grew more and more interested.

"Listen, Arthur. Can we not find you something here?"

"Good God, in Cannes?"

She answered the utter contempt of this with a burst of self-reproach.

"_Mon Dieu, mon Dieu, c'est de ma faute, si j'avais su----_"

"Oh, cut it, old girl, what's the good of post-mortems?"

"But it was my fault! If only I hadn't let him think it was
baccarat--if I'd thought of some other excuse! But I never knew, I
never dreamed--and now, of course, I'm so utterly helpless, my hands
are tied!"

She made a hysterical gesture which shivered the diamond bangles in a
mass together.

"Oh, well----"

"Arthur, tell me! Is there no other way, absolutely no other? Must
you go with this creature?"

A pause while the returning waiter set before them tea and a cocktail.
Then the young man's voice, wearied and irritable.

"I tell you I've got to live. And I can't live on air."

Another long pause and Esther began to fear they would say no more.
She had become so interested, too, it seemed a shame. After a wait of
at least three minutes the woman spoke once more in an altered, quieter
tone:

"I forgot to tell you something. Yesterday I went again to
Fleuristine. You remember Fleurestine?"

"Oh, _that_ woman!"

"Oh, I know you don't believe in her, but ... well, anyhow, yesterday
she went into a trance. She was quite, quite unconscious. She saw
things. She saw Charles..."

"Oh, she did, did she?"

As if moved by a common impulse, both turned and took a brief survey of
the neighbouring tables.