Sangster was looking at him curiously.

"Oh! I understood--what was the reason, then?" he asked.

Jimmy turned away. He found the other man's eyes somehow disconcerting.

"She's married already," he said in a stifled voice. "I--I always knew
she had been married, of course. She made no secret of it. He--the
brute--left her years ago; but last week--well, he turned up
again. . . . She--we--we had always believed he was dead."

There was a little silence. Sangster was no longer looking at Jimmy;
he was staring into the fire. Presently he began to whistle softly.
Jimmy rounded on him.

"Oh, shut up!" he said irritably.

Sangster stopped at once. After a moment:

"And the--er--husband!" he submitted dryly. "You've--you've seen him,
of course."

"No, I haven't. If I did--if I did, I'd break every bone in his
infernal carcase," said Jimmy Challoner, between his teeth.

He stared down at his friend with defiant, eyes as he spoke.

Sangster said "Humph!" again. Then: "Well, there's as good fish in the
sea as any that were caught," he said cheerily. "Look at it
philosophically, old son."