He drove me to what I did.

He let me leave his house without so much as a word of regret, and not one line did he write me the whole time I was at my father's.

Two months, Martha! TWO--WHOLE--MONTHS!" The words seemed to clog in her throat.

"All that time he hid himself in his club, abusing me to every man he met.
Somebody told me so.

What was I to do?
He had turned over to his father every shilling he possessed and left me without a penny--or, worse still, dependent on my father, and you know what that means! And then, when I could stand it no longer and went home, he sailed for South Africa on a shooting expedition." Martha listened patiently.