Studies in Wives
By MRS. BELLOC LOWNDES
NEW YORK
MITCHELL KENNERLEY
2 East 29th Street
Copyright, 1910, by Mitchell Kennerly
CONTENTS
| PAGE | ||
| I. | Althea's Opportunity | 1 |
| II. | Mr. Jarvice's Wife | 47 |
| III. | A Very Modern Instance | 93 |
| IV. | According to Meredith | 151 |
| V. | Shameful Behaviour? | 205 |
| VI. | The Decree Made Absolute | 277 |
I
ALTHEA'S OPPORTUNITY
"His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shallbring him to the king of terrors."—Job xviii. 14.
There came the sound of a discreet, embarrassed cough, and Althea Scropeturned quickly round from the window by which she had been standingstill dressed in her outdoor things.
She had heard the door open, the unfolding of the tea-table, the settingdown of the tea-tray, but her thoughts had been far away from the oldhouse in Westminster which was now her home; her thoughts had been inNewcastle, dwelling for a moment among the friends of her girlhood, forwhom she had been buying Christmas gifts that afternoon.
The footman's cough recalled her to herself, and to the present.
"Am I to say that you are at home this afternoon, ma'am?"
Althea's thoughtful, clear eyes rested full on the youth's anxious face.He had not been long in the Scropes' service, and this was the firsttime he had been left in such a position of responsibility, but Dockett,the butler, was out, a rare event, for Dockett liked to be master in hismaster's house. Before the marriage of Perceval Scrope, Dockett had beenScrope's valet, and, as Althea was well aware, the man still regardedher as an interloper. Althea did not like Dockett, but Perceval was veryfond of him, and generally spoke of him to his friends as "Trip." Altheahad never been able to discover the reason of the nickname, and she hadnot liked to ask; her husband often spoke a language strange to her.
"I will see Mr. Bustard if he comes," she said gently.
Dockett would not have disturbed her by asking the question, for Dockettalways knew, by a sort of instinct, whom his master and mistress wishedto see or to avoid seeing.
Again she turned and stared out of the high, narrow, curtainlesswindows. Perceval Scrope did not like curtains, and so of course therewere no curtains in his wife's drawing-room.
Snow powdered the ground. It blew in light eddies about the barebranches of the trees marking the carriage road through St