When the news of Lady Edith's marriage to Herbert Pelham reached Sir Anthony it was already spring in Tuscany.
...
Anthony lived in a small village just outside Florence. He lived a good life and had settled well in Italy. Of course, his Italian had always been quite good, and after five years in Italy it was now almost perfect.
A varm climate, Italian food from the many small resturants in the village and in Florence. An opera almost every week, played by the best mucisians and singers in the world. Sometimes a trip to some other part of Italy, there was so much to see in this remarkable country.
Sir Anthony had settled amazingly well in Italy, especially considering how unhappy he had been when he first arrived.
He had changed his life completely, and it had given him a feeling of freedom to leave it all behind. Perhaps he should have done it long ago.
...
A month after Sir Anthony Strallan had left Lady Edith at the altar he had it all settled.
He had left for London in the afternoon, with the fixed resolution never to return to Yorkshire again.
They had planned to spend their wedding night and their first day as a married couple at Strallan house in London, so he just followed the plan.
The difference was of course that Edith wasn't with him. So instead of the usual sightseeing he went to see his lawyer and told him to sell Locksley and Strallan house. He was fully determined that he should never bother Edith with his presence again.
Then he went to Italy. After three weeks he had a letter telling him that his estate and his London house were sold. He now had enough money to buy a small house - well, perhaps not small, but much smaller than Locksley - and live there for the rest of his life.
The only things in Locksley that he had kept was the books from the library. He had had them packed away before the house was sold and later he had them sent to Italy. The biggest room in his house was now a library.
He had thought of keeping the library sofa - where Edith had so often sat - but decided against it. He couldn't be sentimental about things like that. He had given her up, and now he had to live with that.
Because he was certain that he had made the right decision. He didn't want to stand in her way. What she needed was a young chap with his life ahead of him.
AN: Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment!