In this Aileen was no exception.

She was so beautiful herself, and had been so much to Cowperwood physically, that she had followed the corresponding evidences of feeling in him with the utmost interest, accepting the recurring ebullitions of his physical emotions as an evidence of her own enduring charm.

As time went on, however--and that was long before Mrs.Sohlberg or any one else had appeared--the original flare of passion had undergone a form of subsidence, though not noticeable enough to be disturbing.

Aileen thought and thought, but she did not investigate.

Indeed, because of the precariousness of her own situation as a social failure she was afraid to do so.
With the arrival of Mrs.Sohlberg and then of Antoinette Nowak as factors in the potpourri, the situation became more difficult.