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cheerfully, that Antoinette had supplied the funds. I must talk
seriously to Antoinette. Her attitude towards Carlotta savours
too much of idolatry. Demoralisation will soon set in, and the
utter ruin of Carlotta and my digestion will be the result. I
must also make Carlotta a small allowance.
During tea she said to me, suddenly:
Seer Marcous is not married?
I said, no. She asked, why not? The devil seems to be driving
all womankind to ask me that question.
Because wives are an unmitigated nuisance, said I.
A curious smile came over Carlotta's face. It was as knowing as
Dame Quickly's.
Then
Have one of these cakes, said I, hurriedly. There is
chocolate outside and the inside is chockfull of custard.
She bit, smiled in a different and beatific way, and forgot my
matrimonial affairs. I was relieved. With her oriental training
there is no telling what Carlotta might have said.
May 31st.
Today I have had a curious interview. Who should call on me but
the father of the hapless Harry Robinson. My first question was
a natural one. How on earth did he connect me with the death of
his son? How did he contrive to identify me as the befriender of
the young Turkish girl whose interests, he declared, were the
object of his visit? It appeared that the police had given him
the necessary information, my adventures at Waterloo having
rendered their tracing of Carlotta an easy matter. I had been
wondering somewhat at the meagre newspaper reports of the
inquest. No mention was made, as I had nervously anticipated, of
the mysterious lady for whom the deceased had bought a ticket at
Alexandretta, and with whom he had come ashore. Very little
evidence appeared to have been taken, and the jury contented
themselves with giving the usual verdict of temporary insanity.
I touched on this as delicately as I could.
We succeeded in hushing things up, said my visitor, an old man
with irongrey whiskers and a careworn sensitive face. I have
some influence myself, and his wife's relations
His wife! I ejaculated. The ways of men are further than ever
from interpretation. The fellow was actually married!
Yes, he sighed. That is what would have made such a terrible
scandal. Her relatives are powerful people. We averted it,
thank Heaven, and his poor wife will never know. My boy is dead.
No public investigation into motives would bring him back to life
again.
I murmured words of condolence.
He must have been out of his mind, poor lad, when he induced the
girl to run away with him. But, as my son has ruined her, he

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