The Lesser Love — Cecile Gilmore

Mistaking her daughter's feeling for a boy whom the girl considered an underdog as something deeper than mere sympathy, Claire Raven decided to accept her mother-in-law's gift of a trip to Europe for seventeen-year-old Sydney and herself. For the vacation would not only removed Sydney from a dangerous situation, but would also provide a brief respite for Claire, who had just discovered that her husband, Jim, always a model of faithfulness, was in love with their beautiful neighbor, Phyllis Devine.

In Europe, attractive Charleston born, Julian, a well-known writer, attached himself to their party, and as they traveled in Paris, the Riviera, Florence and Rome, no one was quite certain which of the trio -- the flighty mother-in-law Ivy, Claire, herself, or pretty Sydney -- was responsible for the Southener's flattering attention.

But is spite of Julian's fascinating company and the glamour of the entire trip, Claire found herself thinking almost constantly of Jim Raven -- and growing more and more anxious as his letters, infrequent at best, stopped altogether.