The end came swiftly. The next day Ben Travers drove down to Rincona.
Mrs. Abbott listened to his garnished tale with bulging eyes and her
three chins quivering with excitement. She had heard no gossip worth
mentioning since she left town, and privately she hated the summer and
Alta.
"You should have seen her face when she came out of that church," cried
Travers for the third time; he was falling into the senile habit of
repeating himself. "It was fairly distorted and she looked as if she
had been crying for a week. Mark my words, Masters had been making the
hottest kind of love to her--he was little more composed than she. Bet
you an eagle to a dime they elope within a week."
"Serve Howard Talbot right for marrying a woman twenty years younger
than himself and a Northerner to boot. Do you think he suspects?"
"Not he. Now, I must be off. If I didn't call on the Hathaways and
Montgomerys while I'm down here they'd never forgive me."
"Both have house parties," said Mrs. Abbott enviously. "Just like you
to get it first! I'd go with you but I must write to Antoinette McLane.
She'll _have_ to believe that her paragon is headed for the rocks this
time."
Mrs. McLane was having an attack of the blues when the letter arrived
and did not open her mail until two days later. Then she drove at once
to San Francisco. She was too wise in women to remonstrate with
Madeleine, but she went directly to Dr. Talbot's office. It was the
most unpleasant duty she had ever undertaken, but she knew that Talbot
would not doubt his wife's fidelity, and she was determined to save
Madeleine. She had considered the alternative of going to Masters, but
even her strong spirit quailed before the prospect of that interview.
Besides, if he were as deeply in love with Madeleine as she believed
him to be, it would do no good. She had little faith in the
self-abnegation of men where their passions were concerned.
Dr. Talbot was in his office and saw her at once, and they talked for
an hour. His face was purple and she feared a stroke. But he heard her
quietly, and told her she had proved her friendship by coming to him
before it was too late. When she left him he sat for another hour,
alone.