It had become known that Rupert Carey, whose unfortunate vice had been
common talk ever since the Arkell House ball, was a perpetual visitor to
Casa Felice, and presently it was whispered that he was actually living
there with Lady Holme, and that Lord Holme was going to apply to the
Courts for a divorce. Thereupon many successful ladies began to wag
bitter tongues. It seemed to be generally agreed that the affair was
rendered peculiarly disgraceful by the fact that Lady Holme was no longer
a beautiful woman. If she had still been lovely they could have
understood it! The wildest rumours as to the terrible result of the
accident upon her had been afloat, and already she had become almost a
legend. It was stated that when poor Lord Holme had first seen her, after
the operation, the shock had nearly turned his brain. And now it was
argued that the only decent thing for a woman in such a plight to do was
to preserve at least her dignity, and to retire modestly from the fray in
which she could no longer hope to hold her own. That she had indeed
retired, but apparently with a man, roused much pious scorn and pinched
regret in those whose lives were passed amid the crash of broken
commandments.
One day, at a tea, a certain lady, animadverted strongly upon Lady
Holme's conduct, and finally remarked:
"It's grotesque! A woman who is disfigured, and a man who is, or at any
rate was, a drunkard! Really it's the most disgusting thing I ever heard
of!"
Lady Cardington happened to be in the room and she suddenly flushed.
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