n. I suspected
something of it, but I did not know it was so strong. I'm sure I don't
know where she gets it. Her father was most practical. But she was all
right until your husband persuaded her."

"That may be all true," went on Angela, "but she is not guiltless. I
know Eugene. He is weak, but he will not follow where he is not led, and
no girl need be tempted unless she wants to."

"Suzanne is so young," again pleaded Mrs. Dale.

"Well, I'm sure if she knew Mr. Witla's record accurately," went on
Angela foolishly, "she wouldn't want him. I have written her. She ought
to know. He isn't honest and he isn't moral as this thing shows. If this
were the first time he had fallen in love with another woman, I could
forgive him, but it isn't. He did something quite as bad six or seven
years ago, and only two years before that there was another woman. He
wouldn't be faithful to Suzanne if he had her. It would be a case of
blazing affection for a little while, and then he would tire and cast
her aside. Why, you can tell what sort of a man he is when he would
propose to me, as he did here, that I should let him maintain a separate
establishment for Suzanne and say nothing of it. The idea!"

Mrs. Dale clicked her lips significantly. She considered Angela foolish
for talking in this way, but it could not be helped now. Possibly Eugene
had made a mistake in marrying her. This did not excuse him, however, in
her eyes for wanting to take Suzanne under the conditions he proposed.
If he were free, it would be an entirely different matter. His standing,
his mind, his manners, were not objectionable, though he was not to the
manner born.

Mrs. Dale went away toward evening, greatly nonplussed by what she had
seen and heard, but convinced that no possible good could come of the
situation. Angela would never give him a divorce. Eugene was not a fit
man morally for her daughter, anyhow. There was great scandal on the
verge of exposure here in which her beloved daughter would be
irretrievably smirched. In her desperation, she decided, if she could do
no better, she would try to dissuade Eugene from seeing Suzanne until he
could obtain a divorce, in which case, to avoid something worse, she
would agree to a marriage, but this was only to be a lip promise. The
one thing she wanted to do was to get Suzanne to give him up entirely.
If Suzanne could be spirited away, or dissuaded from throwing herself
away on Eugene, that would be the thing.