CHAPTER IV

It was utterly impossible, literally out of the question, that Madame
Frabelle could know anything about the one trouble, the one danger, that
so narrowly escaped being almost a tragedy, in Edith's life.

It was three years since Bruce, always inclined to vague, mild
flirtations, had been positively carried off his feet, and literally
taken away by a determined young art student, with red hair, who had
failed to marry a friend of his. While Edith, with the children, was
passing the summer holidays at Westgate, Bruce had sent her the
strangest of letters, informing her that he and Mavis Argles could not
live without one another, and had gone to Australia together, and
imploring her to divorce him. The complication was increased by the fact
that at that particular moment the most charming man Edith had ever met,
Aylmer Ross, that eloquent and brilliant barrister, had fallen in love
with her, and she had become considerably attracted to him. Her pride
had been hurt at Bruce's conduct, but she had certainly felt it less
bitterly, in one way, because she was herself so much fascinated by
Aylmer and his devotion.

* * * * *

But Edith had behaved with cool courage and real unselfishness. She felt
certain that Brace's mania would not last, and that if it did he would
be miserable. Strangely, then, she had declined to divorce him, and
waited. Her prophecy turned out correct, and by the time they arrived at