Mrs. Strickland clasped her hands.
“Tell me exactly what she said.” And when I hesitated, she insisted. “I particularly want to know.”
“You know the way people talk. She’s not very reliable, is she? She said your husband had left you.”
“Is that all?”
I did not choose to repeat Rose Waterford’s parting reference to a girl from a tea-shop. I lied.
“She didn’t say anything about his going with anyone?”
“No.”
“That’s all I wanted to know.”
I was a little puzzled, but at all events I understood that I might now take my leave. When I shook hands with Mrs. Strickland I told her that if I could be of any use to her I should be very glad. She smiled wanly.
“Thank you so much. I don’t know that anybody can do anything for me.”