[CHAPTER XXVIII.]
HUSBAND AND WIFE.
"You have broken your oath
And broken my heart,
Oh, sorrow for both,
You have broken your oath;
Although I am loth
In anger to part,
You have broken your oath
And broken my heart."
Alizon Errington was seated in the Dutch room with Aunt Jelly's letter clenched in her hand, and Sammy playing on the carpet beside her. The child, rolling among his toys was babbling inarticulate words of endearment to them, but the mother's eyes were fixed on the gaudy bed of tulips blazing in the sunshine as she thought over the words she had just read.
So this was her husband! This man who had gone straight from his home, from his wife, from his child, to the arms of this infamous woman. He knew more than the world did about the character of Mrs. Veilsturm, for she had told him herself. He knew that she, his wife, had refused to receive this adventuress and had returned her card! He knew that Mrs. Veilsturm, Cleopatra, whatever she liked to call herself, had been connected with disreputable Gabriel Mostyn, and yet, in spite of all this, he had dared to enter her house, to clasp hands with her as a friend, to sacrifice his honour and that of his wife to this vile woman.