“She was a high-spirited woman and she had thought little of the danger of the business; pitying Charles, she did not mind risking her liberty to set him free, and the thought that her husband had funked the business came to her suddenly as she stood there, like a stab in the heart.
“She went off to her room and went to bed, but she could not sleep for thinking, and the more she thought the clearer it seemed to her that her husband brought up to scratch had got cold feet as the Yankees say, and had backed out of the show, leaving Charles to his fate.
“She was more sure next morning, for he kept away from her, had breakfast early and went off into the town shopping. But the shock of her life came to her at dinner time, for when he turned up for the meal, it was plain to be seen he had been drinking more than was good for him—trying to drown the recollections of his own weakness, it seemed to her.
“She had never seen him under the influence before, and she was shocked at the change it made in him. She left the table.
“Afterwards she was sorry that she did that, for it was like the blow of an axe between them. Next morning he would scarcely speak to her, and the day after they were due to leave for France.
“They were due out at midday, and at eleven Duplessis, who had lingered in the town to make some purchases, had not come on board. He did not turn up till half an hour after the time they were due to sail, and when he did it was plain to be seen that all his purchases had been made in cafés.
“He was flushed, and laughing and joking with the boatman who brought him off, and his wife, seeing his condition, went below and left the deck to him—a nice position for a woman on board a yacht like that with all the sailors looking on, to say nothing of the captain and officers. However, there was nothing to be done, and she had to make the best of it, which she did by avoiding her husband as much as she could right from that on, for the chap had gone clean off the handle; it was as if his failure to be man enough to rescue his brother had pulled a linch-pin out of one of his wheels, and the drink which he flew to for consolation finished the business.
“They stopped at Colombo and he went ashore, and they were three days getting him back, and when he came he looked like a sack of meal in the stern sheets of the pinnace. They stopped at Port Said and he got ashore again without any money, but that was nothing, for a chap coming off a yacht like that gets all the tick he wants for anything in Port Said. He was a week there, and was only got away by the captain of the yacht knocking seven bells out of him with his fists, and then handing the carcase to two quartermasters to take on board ship.
“They stopped nowhere else till they reached Marseilles, and there they found Madame Duplessis’ lawyer waiting for them, having been notified by cable from Port Said.
“A doctor was had in and he straightened Armand up with strychnine and bromide, and they brushed his hair and shaved him and stuck him in a chair for a family conference, consisting of Madame Duplessis, the old maiden aunt, Armand and the lawyer.