Miss Anne gave a brief and frank history. "You might as well have me tell it as to get it from any one else. Corinne had always had her own way. And when Louis married your mother, she was frantic. It was killing to her pride to have another woman chosen. And she made up her mind to get him back. I have always thought she staged the scene which separated them."
"Scene?"
"Yes. Your mother came upon them one night in the garden at Round Hill. Louis was holding Corinne's hand and swearing eternal devotion. I've always felt that he didn't mean a word of it. He was simply carried away by the moment and the moonlight. But when Corinne saw your mother, she jumped up and said, 'We might as well tell her the truth now, Louis.' And she told it—her version. Louis tried to stop her, but when she said, 'He has just said that he—still cares—' what could he say? He had said it. And whether or not he meant it, he had to stick to it. Yet I am sure that even at that moment he loved Elizabeth."
"Love like that," Hildegarde flung out, "isn't worth the name." Her cheeks were blazing.
Miss Anne, hunting in her pocket-book for a tip to the waitress, said: "Perhaps I shouldn't have told you, but I'd rather you'd see things straight. Love Louis for what he is, and not for what you want him to be. And if you love him enough, you can sway him. Elizabeth could have done anything with him if she had only known it. But she ran away—"
With her heart beating, Hildegarde asked a question. "Was he happy with Corinne?"
