The lawyer thought that this would be a splendid opportunity for his son, but the young man would not hear of it unless he could take his wife with him, which was out of the question. He had only been married six months, and was, it was presumed, still surrounded by the glamour of love. Great pressure was brought to bear upon him to accept the mission. Even his wife's relatives agreed that it was too tempting a proposal to be rejected.
When Sydney Marshall was consulted he said there should be no hesitation whatever about it--that offers of that kind did not drop from the clouds every day. Such opportunities never came in _his_ way. There was no occasion to trouble about Mrs. Fraser; he and his sister would look after her. They would do what they could to prevent the young wife being too miserable in her husband's absence. She was miserable enough at the idea of her husband leaving her, but somehow or other became reconciled to it. Finding everyone, not excepting his wife, in favour of his going, Fraser sailed for the Mauritius.
Mrs. Fraser, jun., did not appear to take the temporary loss of her husband very much to heart. She did not go to the theatre or visit her friends seldomer than before, and her constant companions were Marshall and his sister. Her mother-in-law hinted that she saw a little too much of the Marshall's, but the young wife replied that the close intimacy was the wish of her husband. At parting had not Edward put her hand in Marshall's and said, "Sydney, here is your other sister; remember, you are her guardian?"
Husbands who object to disagreeable surprises should always inform their wives of the hour of their return, so that their fair partners may be in waiting to receive them with open arms. At least that is the opinion of your humble servant, an unmarried man. Edward Fraser was foolish enough to neglect this precaution, and the result was quite the reverse of what he anticipated. In his mind's eye he no doubt often pictured the disconsolate wife gazing on his photograph and kissing it, and seeking consolation from his love-letters. And as the ship neared Southampton on the return journey he frequently heard, in imagination, her joyful cry of welcome as he stepped across the threshold of his home.