With one hand he held the long stem of his pipe, but he had stopped smoking.
At once she felt despair.
But she came on into the middle of the saloon.
"Send her away!" she said. "Send her away!"
She spoke in French. And he answered in French:
"Why?"
"I've left my husband. I've left the villa. I can never go back."
"Why not?" he said, still gazing at her face.
He threw back his head, and his great throat showed among the folds of muslin that swept down to his mighty chest.
"He knows!"