Divorce on the ground of desertion

Divorce on the ground of desertion is presented as a delayed means by which Nevile Strange could end his marriage to Audrey Strange. The exchange establishes it as Nevile’s proposed route, not an immediate remedy, and links the separation to a later question of financial obligations and marital status.

The Proposed Ground and Its Delay

Nevile raises desertion while discussing divorce with Audrey. She replies that the process cannot happen for some time and that he will have to wait; he accepts that delay. His estimate is three years or a comparable period, but the conversation does not establish a precise legal timetable. The scene therefore distinguishes the possibility of divorce from its availability at once: separation may be contemplated, while its formal conclusion remains postponed.

Financial Consequences and Marital Status

The later inquiry into the will clarifies that money was to go to Audrey because she was Nevile’s wife when the will was made. Superintendent Battle then asks whether, at the time of the divorce, she was entitled to an allowance from Nevile. The question raises a financial consequence of the marriage’s dissolution without supplying its answer or specifying the terms of any allowance. Together, the will discussion and Battle’s question show that the end of the relationship does not erase the legal and financial significance of its earlier status.

Legal Pressure in the Wider Narrative

The divorce discussion belongs to a story in which legal processes shape personal choices, though distinct matters should not be confused. After his failed attempt to take his own life, Angus MacWhirter is in hospital with a broken shoulder and faces the prospect of being brought before a police court for the attempt. He regards that prospect as an intrusion into a decision concerning his own life. This separate episode does not define desertion or divorce law; it reinforces the narrative’s broader attention to the distance between a person’s view of an action and the legal process that may follow.