Mrs. Vansuythen has never told the Major; and since he insists
upon keeping up a burdensome geniality, she has been compelled
to break her vow of not speaking to Kurrell. This speech, which
must of necessity preserve the semblance of politeness and
interest, serves admirably to keep alight the flame of jealousy and
dull hatred in Boulte's bosom, as it awakens the same passions in
his wife's heart. Mrs. Boulte hates Mrs. Vansuythen because she
has taken Ted from her, and, in some curious fashion, hates her
because Mrs. Vansuythen and here the wife's eyes see far more
clearly than the husband's detests Ted. And Ted that gallant
captain and honourable man knows now that it is possible to hate a
woman once loved, to the verge of wishing to silence her for ever
with blows. Above all, is he shocked that Mrs. Boulte cannot see
the error of her ways.

Boulte and he go out tiger-shooting together in all friendship.
Boulte has put their relationship on a most satisfactory footing.

'You're a blackguard,' he says to Kurrell, 'and I've lost any
self-respect I may ever have had; but when you're with me, I can
feel certain that you are not with Mrs. Vansuythen, or making
Emma miserable.'

Kurrell endures anything that Boulte may say to him. Sometimes
they are away for three days together, and then the Major insists
upon his wife going over to sit with Mrs. Boulte; although Mrs.
Vansuythen has repeatedly declared that she prefers her husband's
company to any in the world. From the way in which she clings to
him, she would certainly seem to be speaking the truth.