silly wife; I had an idea you were too
wise. Oh, yes, that 's what I thought of you! Blanche knew why I picked
her out, and undertook to supply the article required. Heaven forgive
her! She has certainly kept her engagement. But you can imagine how
it must have made her like me--knowing why I picked her out! She has
disappointed me all the same. I thought she had a heart; but that was a
mistake. It does n't matter, though, because everything is over between
us."

"What do you mean, everything is over?" Bernard demanded.

"Everything will be over in a few weeks. Then I can speak to Miss Vivian
seriously."

"Ah! I am glad to hear this is not serious," said Bernard.

"Miss Vivian, wait a few weeks," Gordon went on. "Give me another chance
then. Then it will be perfectly right; I shall be free."

"You speak as if you were going to put an end to your wife!"

"She is rapidly putting an end to herself. She means to leave me."

"Poor, unhappy man, do you know what you are saying?" Angela murmured.

"Perfectly. I came here to say it. She means to leave me, and I mean to
offer her every facility. She is dying to take a lover, and she has got
an excellent one waiting for her. Bernard knows whom I mean; I don't
know whether you do. She was ready to take one three months after our
marriage. It is really very good of her to have waited all this time;
but I don't think she can go more than a week or two longer. She is
recommended a southern climate, and I am pretty sure that in the course
of another ten days I may count upon their starting together for the
shores of the Mediterranean. The shores of the Mediterranean, you know,
are lovely, and I hope they will do her a world of good. As soon as they
have left Paris I will let you know; and then you will of course admit
that, virtually, I am free."

"I don't understand you."

"I suppose you are aware," said Gordon, "that we have the advantage of
being natives of a country in which marriages may be legally dissolved."

Angela stared; then, softly--

"Are you speaking of a divorce?"

"I believe that is what they call it," Gordon answered, gazing back at
her with his densely clouded blue eyes. "The lawyers do it for you; and
if she goes away with Lovelock, nothing will be more simple than for me
to have it arranged."

Angela stared, I say; and Bernard was staring, too. Then the latter,
turning away, broke out into a tremendous, irrepressible laugh.

Gordon looked at him a