No man with any refinement--and whatever he lacked
Mr. Quest had refinement--could bear to be thus continually repulsed
by a woman, and so it came to pass that their intercourse had always
been of the most strained nature. Then when she at last had obtained
the clue to the secret of his life, under threat of exposure she drove
her bargain, of which the terms were complete separation in all but
outward form, and virtual freedom of action for herself. This,
considering the position, she was perhaps justified in doing, but her
husband never forgave her for it. More than that, he determined, if by
any means it were possible, to turn the passion which, although she
did not know it, he was perfectly aware she bore towards his business
superior, Edward Cossey, to a refined instrument of vengeance against
her, with what success it will be one of the purposes of this history
to show.
Such, put as briefly as possible, were the outlines of the character
and aims of this remarkable and contradictory man.
Within an hour and a half of leaving his own house, "The Oaks," as it
was called, although the trees from which it had been so named had
long since vanished from the garden, Mr. Quest was bowling swiftly
along behind Edward Cossey's powerful bay horse towards the towering
gateway of Honham Castle.
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