"Very well. But you know why he didn't meet Jacqueline at five, don't you?"
He looked at her miserably: "Yes, I know. I wouldn't let him."
"Is he intoxicated?"
"No. He has had more than he should have."
"What a cur!" she said between her teeth.
Cairns bit his lip and nervously twirled his walking stick.
"See here, Cynthia, Jim isn't a cur, you know."
"What do you call a man who has done what he's done?"
"I—I tell you it has me guessing. Because it isn't like Jim Desboro. He's never that way—not once in years. Only when he's up against it does he ever do that. And he's perfectly mad about his wife. Don't make any mistake there; he's dead in love with her—crazy about her. But—he came into the office about one to-day, looking like the deuce—so changed, so white, so 'all in,' that I thought he had the grippe or something."