“It was not her heart that suffered, it was her pride⁠—is that what you would say?”

“Yes, I suppose you might put it like that.”

“I gather that the marriage has not been a happy one from the beginning?”

“Derek Kettering is rotten to the core,” said Van Aldin. “He is incapable of making any woman happy.”

“He is, as you say in England, a bad lot. That is right, is it not?”

Van Aldin nodded.

“ Très bien! You advise Madame to seek a divorce, she agrees; you consult your solicitors. When does M. Kettering get news of what is in the wind?”