“Oh, so am I,” said Kettering. “I am in very low water financially; it will put me in a nasty hole if Ruth divorces me, and, after all, if she has stood it for ten years, why not stand it a little longer? I give you my word of honour that the old man can’t possibly last out another eighteen months, and, as I said before, it’s a pity Ruth shouldn’t get what she married me for.”

“You suggest that my daughter married you for your title and position?”

Derek Kettering laughed a laugh that was not all amusement.

“You don’t think it was a question of a love match?” he asked.

“I know,” said Van Aldin slowly, “that you spoke very differently in Paris ten years ago.”