Over the River

Clare, who for seventeen months had been the wife of Sir Gerald
Corven of the Colonial Service, stood on the boat deck of an Orient
liner in the River Thames, waiting for it to dock. It was ten
o'clock of a mild day in October, but she wore a thick tweed coat,
for the voyage had been hot. She looked pale--indeed, a little
sallow--but her clear brown eyes were fixed eagerly on the land and
her slightly touched-up lips were parted, so that her face had the
vividness to which it was accustomed. She s...