Little by little, however, other possibilities had shaped themselves and had grown into certainties at an alarming rate.

He understood all at once how Folco himself had been spending his time, while society had supposed him to be a broken hearted widower.

A few hints which he had let fall about the things he would have shown Marcello in Paris suggested a great deal; his looks and manner told the rest, now that Marcello had guessed the main truth.

He had not waited three months after his wife's death to profit by his liberty and the wealth she had left him.

Marcello remembered the addresses he had given from time to time--Monte Carlo, Hombourg, Pau, and Paris very often.