'From Lourdes? she was there.'
A cloud gathered on Harold's face.
'She didn't write to me from Lourdes,' he said. 'But Lourdes is, I suppose, the reason of her perversion to Rome?'
'No; Mildred told me that Lourdes had nothing to do with it.'
'You say that she now lives with these people, the Delacours.'
'Yes; she's just like one of the family. She invites her friends to dinner. She invited me to dinner. The Delacours are very rich, and Mildred is now all the rage in Paris.'
'And Madame Delacour, what kind of a woman is she?'
'Madame Delacour has very poor health, they say she was once a great beauty, but there's very little of her beauty left. … She's very fond of Mildred. They are great friends.'
The next time that Harold heard of Mildred was through his solicitors. In the course of conversation regarding some investments, Messrs. Blunt and Hume mentioned that Miss Lawson had taken 5000 pounds out of mortgage. They did not know if she had re-invested it, she had merely requested them to pay the money into her banking account.
'Why did you not mention this to me before?'