I am sure it had never crossed her mind that my doors
might be shut against her. Her first words were, "I have come home." The
first thing she did when we went into the drawing-room after dinner
was to fondle my hand and lay it against her cheek and say, with a deep
sigh:

"I am so happy."

However shallow her butterfly nature was, these things came from its
depths. No man can help feeling pleased at a child's or an animal's
implicit trust in him. And the pleasure is of the purest. He feels that
unreasoning intuition has penetrated to some latent germ of good in his
nature, and for the moment he is disarmed of evil. Carlotta, then,
came blindly to what was best in me. In her thoughts she sandwiched
me between the cat and the cook: well, in most sandwiches the
mid-ingredient is the most essential.

She curled herself up in the familiar sofa-corner, and as it was a
chilly night I sent for a wrap which I threw over her limbs.

"See, I have the dear red slippers," she remarked, arching her instep.

"And I have my dear Carlotta," said I.

I drew my chair near her, and gradually I learned all the unhappy story.

Pasquale had made love to her from the very first minute of their
acquaintance--even while I was hunting for the _L'Histoire Comique
de Francion_. He had met her many times unknown to me. They had
corresponded, her letters being addressed to a little stationer's shop
close by. She did not love him. Of that I have an absolute conviction.
But he was young, he was handsome, he had the libertine's air and
manner. She was docile. And she was ever positively truthful. If I had
questioned her she would have confessed frankly. But I never questioned,
as I never suspected. I wondered sometimes at her readiness in quoting
him. I noticed odd coincidences; but I was too ineffectual to draw
inferences from phenomena. His appearance on the Paddington platform was
prearranged; his duchessa at Ealing a myth.

Apparently he had dallied with his fancy. The fruit was his any day
for the plucking. Perhaps a rudimentary sentiment of loyalty towards
me restrained him. Who can tell? The night of our meeting with Hamdi
brought the crisis. The Turk's threats had alarmed both Carlotta and
myself. It was necessary for him to strike at once. He saw her the next
day--would to heaven I had remained at home!--told her I was marrying
her to save her from Hamdi. I loved the other woman. He would save her
equally well from Hamdi. The other w