HUSBAND AND WIFE Brett did not hurry on his way to the Hall.

Already things were in a whirl, and the confusion was so great that he was momentarily unable to map out a definite line of action.
The relations between Capella and his wife were evidently strained almost to breaking point, and it was this very fact which caused him the greatest perplexity.
They had been married little more than six months.

They were an extraordinarily handsome couple, apparently well suited to each other by temperament and mutual sympathies, whilst their means were ample enough to permit them to live under any conditions they might choose, and gratify personal hobbies to the fullest extent.
What, then, could have happened to divide them so completely?
Surely not Capella's new-born passion for Helen Layton.

Not even a hot-blooded Southerner could be guilty of such deliberate rascality, such ineffable folly, during the first few months after his marriage to a beautiful and wealthy wife.
No, this hypothesis must be rejected.

Margaret Capella had drifted apart from her husband almost as soon as they reached England on their return as man and wife.