She stood up, all her wonderful castles strewn before her.
“Mon Dieu!” she groaned. “Mon Dieu!”
There was a sound from behind, and a figure slipped from out of the gloom—Angela. She stood facing them, her breast heaving under her emotions. Jim, seizing the opportunity, vanished into the house sick at the thought that Angela should have heard.
Angela approached Natalie and placed her arm round the latter’s waist. 290
“Natalie,” she said, “I couldn’t help hearing.”
“You—you heard?”
“Yes. And I had a right to hear.”
“No one had a right——”
“Yes, someone had—his wife.”
“You—his wife?”