"Yes. The wife got a judicial separation."
"And that is the history of Marr?"
"That is, such of his history as is known," Valentine said in his calm voice.
While he had been speaking his blue eyes had always been fixed on
Julian's face. When Julian looked up they were withdrawn.
"I always had a feeling that Marr was secretly a wretch, a devil," Julian said now. "It seems I was right. What has become of the wife?"
"I suppose she has gone back to her country home. Probably she is happy. Her first mate chastised her with whips. To fulfil her destiny as a woman she ought now to seek another who is fond of scorpions."
"Women are strange," Julian said, voluptuously generalizing after the manner of young men.
Valentine leaned forward as if the sentence stirred some depth in his mind and roused him to a certain excitement.
"Julian," he exclaimed, "are you and I wasting our lives, do you think? Since you have been away I have thought again over our conversation before we had our first sitting. Do you remember it?"
"Yes, Valentine."