She was silent for so long that the ash dropped from her cigarette. She brushed it to the floor. “She has hinted about a letter: poor darling! Medora’s hints—”
“Is it at your husband’s request that she has arrived here suddenly?”
Madame Olenska seemed to consider this question also. “There again: one can’t tell. She told me she had had a ‘spiritual summons,’ whatever that is, from Dr. Carver. I’m afraid she’s going to marry Dr. Carver … poor Medora, there’s always someone she wants to marry. But perhaps the people in Cuba just got tired of her! I think she was with them as a sort of paid companion. Really, I don’t know why she came.”
“But you do believe she has a letter from your husband?”
Again Madame Olenska brooded silently; then she said: “After all, it was to be expected.”
The young man rose and went to lean against the fireplace. A sudden