And the great thing was that there should be no scandal before the
congregation. So she had clung to the idea of getting Edward back
with a fierce passion that was like an agony. She had looked the
other way; she had occupied herself solely with one idea. That
was the idea of having Edward appear, when she did get him
back, wealthy, glorious as it were, on account of his lands, and
upright. She would show, in fact, that in an unfaithful world one
Catholic woman had succeeded in retaining the fidelity of her
husband. And she thought she had come near her desires.
Her plan with regard to Maisie had appeared to be working
admirably. Edward had seemed to be cooling off towards the girl.
He did not hunger to pass every minute of the time at Nauheirn
beside the child's recumbent form; he went out to polo matches;
he played auction bridge in the evenings; he was cheerful and
bright. She was certain that he was not trying to seduce that poor
child; she was beginning to think that he had never tried to do so.
He seemed in fact to be dropping back into what he had been for
Maisie in the beginning--a kind, attentive, superior officer in the
regiment, paying gallant attentions to a bride.
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