I never see him again; he has never troubled about me. It's my turn
now; I am going to show him that he isn't the only man in the world."

Gladys had never heard Christine talk like this before; she was
frightened at the recklessness of her voice. She broke in quickly:

"I won't listen if you're going to say such things. Jimmy is your
husband, and you loved him once, no matter what you may do now. You
loved him very dearly once."

Christine laughed.

"I've got over that. He wasn't worth breaking my heart about. I was
just a poor little fool in those days, who didn't know that a man never
cares for a woman if he is too sure of her. Oh, if I could only have
my time over again, I'd treat him so differently--I'd never let him how
how much I cared."

Her voice had momentarily fallen back into its old wistfulness. There
were tears in her eyes, but she brushed them quickly away.

"Don't talk about him; I don't want to talk about him."

But Gladys persisted.

"It isn't too late; you can have the time all over again by starting
afresh, and trying to wipe out the past. You're so young. Why, Jimmy
is only a boy; you've got all your lives before you." She got up and
went round to where Christine was sitting. She put an arm about her
shoulders. "Why don't you forgive him, and start again? Give him
another chance, dear, and have a second honeymoon."

Christine pushed her away; she started up with burning cheeks.

"You don't know what you're talking about. Leave me alone--oh, do
leave me alone." She ran from the room.

She lay awake half the night thinking of what Gladys had said. She
tried to harden her heart against Jimmy. She tried to remember only
that he had married her out of pique; that he cared nothing for
her--that he did not really want her. As a sort of desperate defence
she deliberately thought of Kettering; he liked her, she knew. She was
not too much of a child to understand what that look in his eyes had
meant, that sudden pressure of his hand on hers.

And she liked him, too. She told herself defiantly that she liked him
very much; that she would rather have been with him over at Heston that
afternoon than up in town with Jimmy. Kettering at least sought and
enjoyed her society, but Jimmy----

She clenched her hands to keep back the blinding tears that crowded to
her eyes. What was she crying for? There was nothing to cry for; she
was happy--quite happy; she was away from Jimmy-