"Oh, hasn't your wife told you, then?"
"She has told me you were rude, and that you left without notice, and she wants me to prosecute you. I suppose you lost your temper. You found her rather difficult."
"I found her impossible," said Eileen, frigidly.
"Yes, yes, I understand." He was flushed and unhappy. "You found her impossible to live with?"
Eileen nodded; she would have added "or to make a lady of," but he looked so purple and agitated that she charitably forbore. She was wondering whether Mrs. Maper could really have been so mean as to omit her share in the quarrel, but he went on eagerly:—
"Quite so, quite so. And what do you think it has been for me?"
She murmured inarticulate sympathy.
"Ah, if you only knew! Oh, my dear Miss O'Keeffe, while you've been in the house, it's been like heaven."
"I'm glad I've given satisfaction," she said drily.
"Then what do you give by going? I assure you the day you came to the works it was like heaven there too."