This letter
here--you see!"
"It is the letter of a woman who has had more affaires than any man in
London. She is preternaturally clever, my dear--Windlehurst would tell
you so. The brilliant and unscrupulous, the beautiful and the bad, have a
great advantage in this world. Eglington was curious, that is all. It is
in the breed of the Eglingtons to go exploring, to experiment."
Hylda started. Words from the letter Sybil Lady Eglington had left behind
her rushed into her mind: "Experiment, subterfuge, secrecy. 'Reaping
where you had not sowed, and gathering where you had not strawed.' Always
experiment, experiment, experiment!"
"I have only been married three years," she moaned. "Yes, yes, my
darling; but much may happen after three days of married life, and love
may come after twenty years. The human heart is a strange thing."
"I was patient--I gave him every chance. He has been false and shameless.
I will not go on."
The Duchess pressed both hands hard, and made a last effort, looking into
the deep troubled eyes with her own grown almost beautiful with
feeling--the faded world-worn eyes.
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