Richardes

This appeal is from a judgment of non-suit.

The action was brought by plaintiff to obtain a decree of divorce from defendant on the ground of wilful desertion. Said desertion is predicated on the offers of plaintiff, alleged to have been made in good faith following a long voluntary separation, to resume matrimonial relations as prescribed by the Civil Code, section 101, but which offers of reconciliation and restoration defendant refused to accept, as hereafter will appear.

Appellant and respondent intermarried at the city of Montreal, Dominion of Canada, May 22, 1894. Shortly thereafter they removed to Brighton, England. Three daughters were born in wedlock. Suspicions which lurked in the mind of appellant as to the paternity of the last child born at Brighton in 1901, two months after appellant had left the family domicile, gave rise to discord which resulted in appellant’s departure for New Zealand, leaving family and all behind. The appellant and respondent met many years thereafter in California, where he unsuccessfully prosecuted in 1922 and 1924, respectively, two divorce actions against his wife, one on the ground of cruelty, and the other on the ground of desertion.…