“Didn’t she bear very hard on him?”
“She couldn’t endure to see him, or to have him near her. Is that very wonderful?”
“You stand up for her then?”
“She was first and foremost a mother.”
“Do you know,” Vane said rather dryly, “you are the only woman I never hear speak against other women. But when the whole thing was an accident?”
“We can’t always be quite fair, or quite reasonable, when a terrible shock comes to us.”
“It’s a problem, a terrible problem of the affections,” Vane said. “Had she loved her husband? Do you know?”
“I know that he loved her very much,” said Mrs. Clarke. “He is here under an assumed name.”
Vane looked openly surprised and even, for a moment, rather disdainful.
“But then——” He paused.