“Did the trip South do Mrs. Cleves any good?” inquired Benton.
“Some,” said Recklow. “When Selden and I saw her she was getting better.”
“I suppose that affair of Yarghouz upset her pretty thoroughly.”
“Yes.” Recklow tossed his cigar into the fireplace and produced a pipe. “Victor Cleves upsets her more,” he remarked.
“Why?” asked Benton, astonished.
“She’s beginning to fall in love with him and doesn’t know what’s the matter with her,” replied the elder man drily. “Selden noticed it, too.”
Benton looked immensely surprised. “I supposed,” he said, “that she and Cleves considered the marriage to be merely a temporary necessity. I didn’t imagine that they cared for each other.”
“I don’t suppose they did at first,” said Selden. “But I think she’s interested in Victor. And I don’t see how he can help falling in love with her, because she’s a very beautiful thing to gaze on, and a most engaging one to talk to.”
“She’s about the prettiest girl I ever saw,” admitted Benton, “and about the cleverest. All the same——”
“All the same—what?”