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THE BOND

"When he knows that we came up here only to have a cheap summer, and that it's absolutely necessary for us to economise! Heaven knows what he won't spend now—expensive hotels and cards and—— Did you see how that woman looked at him? She just put out her hand and gathered him in—and he, of course—anybody can make a fool of Ernesto! I must say, Teresa, I think your Mr. Crayven would do well to go and look after his wife, instead of——"

"Poor man," said Teresa feelingly. "It's quite evident now why he lives in the desert, isn't it?"

But Nina's sense of injury, though its expression died away inarticulately, remained. Teresa felt that she was blamed because Ernesto had gone off in the motor, whereas the real reason undoubtedly was that his domestic situation was uncomfortable and boring.