ur senses and give me my
freedom ... I am going with a man of parts who knows how to give a
woman the attentions she craves, and is himself glad to shake off a
young chit of a wife who is too brainless to appreciate him."

A first-class sensation. The entire cantonment throbbed and buzzed
with excitement. The colonel fumed; the adjutant cursed; and there was
talk of bringing the Don Juan Captain James to a court-martial for
"conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman." But Lola, as was her
custom, took it philosophically, doubtless reflecting that she was
well rid of a spouse for whom she no longer cared, and went back to
her mother in Calcutta.

Mrs. Craigie's maternal heart-strings should have been wrung by the
unhappy position of her daughter. They were not wrung. The clandestine
marriage, with the upsetting of her own plans, still rankled and
remained unforgiven and unforgotten. As a result, when she asked for
shelter and sympathy, Lola received a very frigid welcome. Her
step-father, however, took her part, and declared that his bungalow
was open to her until other arrangements could be made for her future.
Not being possessed of much imagination, his idea was that she should
leave India temporarily and stop for a few months in Scotland with his
brother, Mr. David Craigie, a man of substance and Provost of Perth.
After an interval for reflection there, he felt that the differences
of opinion that had arisen between her husband and herself would
become adjusted, and the young couple resume marital relations.
Accordingly, he wrote to his brother, asking him to meet her when she
arrived in London and escort her to Perth.

Lola, however, while professing complete agreement, had other views as
to her future. She wanted neither a reconciliation with her husband
nor a second experience of life with the Craigie family in Scotland.
One such had been more than sufficient, but she was careful not to
breathe a word on the subject. She kept her own counsel, and matured
her own plans.

CHAPTER III

THE CONSISTORY COURT

I

Sailing from Calcutta for London in an East Indiaman, at the end of
1840, Lola was consigned by her step-father to the "special care" of a
Mrs. Sturgis who was among the passengers. He obviously felt the
parting. "Big salt tears," says Lola, "coursed down his cheeks," when
he wished her a last farewell. He also gave her his blessing; and,
what was more negotiable, a cheque for L1000. The t