But Sir Hugh did not get away from Clavering Park on the next morning,
as he had intended. There came to him that same afternoon a message by
telegraph, to say that Lord Ongar was dead. He had died at Florence on
the afternoon of Christmas-day, and Lady Ongar had expressed her
intention of coming at once to England.

"Why the devil doesn't she stay where she is?" said Sir Hugh, to his
wife. "People would forget her there, and in twelve months time the row
would be all over."

"Perhaps she does not want to be forgotten," said Lady Clavering.

"Then she should want it. I don't care whether she has been guilty or
not. When a woman gets her name into such a mess as that, she should
keep in the background."

"I think you are unjust to her, Hugh."

"Of course you do. You don't suppose that I expect anything else. But if
you mean to tell me that there would have been all this row if she had
been decently prudent, I tell you that you're mistaken."

"Only think what a man he was."

She knew that when she took him, and should have borne with him while he
lasted. A woman isn't to have seven thousand a year for nothing."