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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:45:00 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:45:00 -0700 |
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diff --git a/14645-h/14645-h.htm b/14645-h/14645-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a1789f5 --- /dev/null +++ b/14645-h/14645-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,11662 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Unleavened Bread, by Robert Grant</title> +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + hr.full { width: 100%; } + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size: 8pt;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14645 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Unleavened Bread, by Robert Grant</h1> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h1>UNLEAVENED</h1> +<h1>BREAD</h1> +<h2>By Robert Grant</h2> +<div class="center">Author of <i>The Bachelor's Christmas</i>, +etc.</div> +<p> </p> +<h6>Charles Scribner's Sons<br /> +New York</h6> +<h4>1900</h4> +<p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<div class="center"><a href="#BOOK_I"><i>BOOK I</i><br /> +THE EMANCIPATION</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a href="#BOOK_II"><i>BOOK II</i><br /> +THE STRUGGLE</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a href="#BOOK_III"><i>BOOK III</i><br /> +THE SUCCESS</a></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>UNLEAVENED BREAD</h2> +<h2><a name="BOOK_I" id="BOOK_I"></a><i>BOOK I.</i></h2> +<h2>THE EMANCIPATION</h2> +<h3>CHAPTER I.</h3> +<p>Babcock and Selma White were among the last of the wedding +guests to take their departure. It was a brilliant September night +with a touch of autumn vigor in the atmosphere, which had not been +without its effect on the company, who had driven off in gay +spirits, most of them in hay-carts or other vehicles capable of +carrying a party. Their songs and laughter floated back along the +winding country road. Selma, comfortable in her wraps and well +tucked about with a rug, leaned back contentedly in the chaise, +after the goodbyes had been said, to enjoy the glamour of the full +moon. They were seven miles from home and she was in no hurry to +get there. Neither festivities nor the undisguised devotion of a +city young man were common in her life. Consideration she had been +used to from a child, and she knew herself to be tacitly +acknowledged the smartest girl in Westfield, but perhaps for that +very reason she had held aloof from manhood until now. At least no +youth in her neighborhood had ever impressed her as her equal. +Neither did Babcock so impress her; but he was different from the +rest. He was not shy and unexpressive; he was buoyant and +self-reliant, and yet he seemed to appreciate her quality none the +less.</p> +<p>They had met about a dozen times, and on the last six of these +occasions he had come from Benham, ten miles to her uncle's farm, +obviously to visit her. The last two times her Aunt Farley had made +him spend the night, and it had been arranged that he would drive +her in the Farley chaise to Clara Morse's wedding. A seven-mile +drive is apt to promote or kill the germs of intimacy, and on the +way over she had been conscious of enjoying herself. Scrutiny of +Clara's choice had been to the advantage of her own cavalier. The +bridegroom had seemed to her what her Aunt Farley would call a +mouse-in-the-cheese young man. Whereas Babcock had been the life of +the affair.</p> +<p>She had been teaching now in Wilton for more than a year. When, +shortly after her father's death, she had obtained the position of +school teacher, it seemed to her that at last the opportunity had +come to display her capabilities, and at the same time to fulfil +her aspirations. But the task of grounding a class of small +children in the rudiments of simple knowledge had already begun to +pall and to seem unsatisfying. Was she to spend her life in this? +And if not, the next step, unless it were marriage, was not +obvious. Not that she mistrusted her ability to shine in any +educational capacity, but neither Wilton nor the neighboring +Westfield offered better, and she was conscious of a lack of +influential friends in the greater world, which was embodied for +her in Benham. Benham was a western city of these United States, +with an eastern exposure; a growing, bustling city according to +rumor, with an eager population restless with new ideas and +stimulating ambitions. So at least Selma thought of it, and though +Boston and New York and a few other places were accepted by her as +authoritative, she accepted them, as she accepted Shakespeare, as a +matter of course and so far removed from her immediate outlook as +almost not to count. But Benham with its seventy-five thousand +inhabitants and independent ways was a fascinating possibility. +Once established there the world seemed within her grasp, including +Boston. Might it not be that Benham, in that it was newer, was +nearer to truth and more truly American than that famous city? She +was not prepared to believe this an absurdity.</p> +<p>At least the mental atmosphere of Westfield and even of the +somewhat less solemn Wilton suggested this apotheosis of the +adjacent city to be reasonable. Westfield had stood for Selma as a +society of serious though simple souls since she could first +remember and had been one of them. Not that she arrogated to her +small native town any unusual qualities of soul or mind in +distinction from most other American communities, but she regarded +it as inferior in point of view to none, and typical of the best +national characteristics. She had probably never put into words the +reasons of her confidence, but her daily consciousness was +permeated with them. To be an American meant to be more keenly +alive to the responsibility of life than any other citizen of +civilization, and to be an American woman meant to be something +finer, cleverer, stronger, and purer than any other daughter of +Eve. Under the agreeable but sobering influence of this faith she +had grown to womanhood, and the heroic deeds of the civil war had +served to intensify a belief, the truth of which she had never +heard questioned. Her mission in life had promptly been recognized +by her as the development of her soul along individual lines, but +until the necessity for a choice had arisen she had been content to +contemplate a little longer. Now the world was before her, for she +was twenty-three and singularly free from ties. Her mother had died +when she was a child. Her father, the physician of the surrounding +country, a man of engaging energy with an empirical education and a +speculative habit of mind, had been the companion of her girlhood. +During the last few years since his return from the war an invalid +from a wound, her care for him had left her time for little +else.</p> +<p>No more was Babcock in haste to reach home; and after the +preliminary dash from the door into the glorious night he suffered +the farm-horse to pursue its favorite gait, a deliberate jog. He +knew the creature to be docile, and that he could bestow his +attention on his companion without peril to her. His own pulses +were bounding. He was conscious of having made the whirligig of +time pass merrily for the company by his spirits and jolly quips, +and that in her presence, and he was groping for an appropriate +introduction to the avowal he had determined to make. He would +never have a better opportunity than this, and it had been his +preconceived intention to take advantage of it if all went well. +All had gone well and he was going to try. She had been kind coming +over; and had seemed to listen with interest as he told her about +himself: and somehow he had felt less distant from her. He was not +sure what she would say, for he realized that she was above him. +That was one reason why he admired her so. She symbolized for him +refinement, poetry, art, the things of the spirit—things from +which in the same whirligig of time he had hitherto been cut off by +the vicissitudes of the varnish business; but the value of which he +was not blind to. How proud he would be of such a wife! How he +would strive and labor for her! His heart was in his mouth and +trembled on his lip as he thought of the possibility. What a joy to +be sitting side by side with her under this splendid moon! He would +speak and know his fate.</p> +<p>"Isn't it a lovely night?" murmured Selma appreciatively. "There +they go," she added, indicating the disappearance over the brow of +a hill of the last of the line of vehicles of the rest of the +party, whose songs had come back fainter and fainter.</p> +<p>"I don't care. Do you?" He snuggled toward her a very +little.</p> +<p>"I guess they won't think I'm lost," she said, with a low +laugh.</p> +<p>"What d'you suppose your folks would say if you <i>were</i> +lost? I mean if I were to run away with you and didn't bring you +back?" There was a nervous ring in the guffaw which concluded his +question.</p> +<p>"My friends wouldn't miss me much; at least they'd soon get over +the shock; but I might miss myself, Mr. Babcock."</p> +<p>Selma was wondering why it was that she rather liked being alone +with this man, big enough, indeed, to play the monster, yet half +school-boy, but a man who had done well in his calling. He must be +capable; he could give her a home in Benham; and it was plain that +he loved her.</p> +<p>"I'll tell you something," he said, eagerly, ignoring her +suggestion. "I'd like to run away with you and be married to-night, +Selma. That's what I'd like, and I guess you won't. But it's the +burning wish of my heart that you'd marry me some time. I want you +to be my wife. I'm a rough fellow along-side of you, Selma, but I'd +do well by you; I would. I'm able to look after you, and you shall +have all you want. There's a nice little house building now in +Benham. Say the word and I'll buy it for us to-morrow. I'm crazy +after you, Selma."</p> +<p>The rein was dangling, and Babcock reached his left arm around +the waist of his lady-love. He had now and again made the same +demonstration with others jauntily, but this was a different +matter. She was not to be treated like other women. She was a +goddess to him, even in his ardor, and he reached gingerly. Selma +did not wholly withdraw from the spread of his trembling arm, +though this was the first man who had ever ventured to lay a finger +on her.</p> +<p>"I'd have to give up my school," she said.</p> +<p>"They could get another teacher."</p> +<p>"<i>Could</i> they?"</p> +<p>"Not one like you. You see I'm clumsy, but I'm crazy for you, +Selma." Emboldened by the obvious feebleness of her opposition, he +broadened his clutch and drew her toward him. "Say you will, +sweetheart."</p> +<p>This time she pulled herself free and sat up in the chaise. +"Would you let me do things?" she asked after a moment.</p> +<p>"Do things," faltered Babcock. What could she mean? She had told +him on the way over that her mother had chosen her name from a +theatrical playbill, and it passed through his unsophisticated +brain that she might be thinking of the stage.</p> +<p>"Yes, do something worth while. Be somebody. I've had the idea I +could, if I ever got the chance." Her hands were folded in her lap; +there was a wrapt expression on her thin, nervous face, and a +glitter in her keen eyes, which were looking straight at the moon, +as though they would outstare it in brilliancy.</p> +<p>"You shall be anything you like, if you'll only marry me. What +is it you're wishing to be?"</p> +<p>"I don't know exactly. It isn't anything especial yet. It's the +whole thing. I thought I might find it in my school, but the +experience so far hasn't been—satisfying."</p> +<p>"Troublesome little brats!"</p> +<p>"No, I dare say the fault's in me. If I went to Benham to live +it would be different. Benham must be +interesting—inspiring."</p> +<p>"There's plenty of go there. You'd like it, and people would +think lots of you."</p> +<p>"I'd try to make them." She turned and looked at him judicially, +but with a softened expression. Her profile in her exalted mood had +suggested a beautiful, but worried archangel; her full face seemed +less this and wore much of the seductive embarrassment of sex. To +Babcock she seemed the most entrancing being he had ever seen. +"Would you really like to have me come?"</p> +<p>He gave a hoarse ejaculation, and encircling her eagerly with +his strong grasp pressed his lips upon her cheek. "Selma! darling! +angel! I'm the happiest man alive."</p> +<p>"You mustn't do that—yet," she said protestingly.</p> +<p>"Yes, I must; I'm yours, and you're mine,—mine. Aren't +you, sweetheart? There's no harm in a kiss."</p> +<p>She had to admit to herself that it was not very unpleasant +after all to be held in the embrace of a sturdy lover, though she +had never intended that their relations should reach this stage of +familiarity so promptly. She had known, of course, that girls were +to look for endearments from those whom they promised to marry, but +her person had hitherto been so sacred to man and to herself that +it was difficult not to shrink a little from what was taking place. +This then was love, and love was, of course, the sweetest thing in +the world. That was one of the truths which she had accepted as she +had accepted the beauty of Shakespeare, as something not to be +disputed, yet remote. He was a big, affectionate fellow, and she +must make up her mind to kiss him. So she turned her face toward +him and their lips met eagerly, forestalling the little peck which +she had intended. She let her head fall back at his pressure on to +his shoulder, and gazed up at the moon.</p> +<p>"Are you happy, Selma?" he asked, giving her a fond, firm +squeeze.</p> +<p>"Yes, Lewis."</p> +<p>She could feel his frame throb with joy at the situation as she +uttered his name.</p> +<p>"We'll be married right away. That's if you're willing. My +business is going first-rate and, if it keeps growing for the next +year as it has for the past two, you'll be rich presently. When +shall it be, Selma?"</p> +<p>"You're in dreadful haste. Well, I'll promise to give the +selectmen notice to-morrow that they must find another +teacher."</p> +<p>"Because the one they have now is going to become Mrs. Lewis J. +Babcock. I'm the luckiest fellow, hooray! in creation. See here," +he added, taking her hand, "I guess a ring wouldn't look badly +there—a real diamond, too. Pretty little fingers."</p> +<p>She sighed gently, by way of response. It was comfortable +nestling in the hollow of his shoulder, and a new delightful +experience to be hectored with sweetness in this way. How round and +bountiful the moon looked. She was tired of her present life. What +was coming would be better. Her opportunity was at hand to show the +world what she was made of.</p> +<p>"A real diamond, and large at that," he repeated, gazing down at +her, and then, as though the far away expression in her eyes +suggested kinship with the unseen and the eternal, he said, +admiringly but humbly, "It must be grand to be clever like you, +Selma. I'm no good at that. But if loving you will make up for it, +I'll go far, little woman."</p> +<p>"What I know of that I like, and—and if some day, I can +make you proud of me, so much the better," said Selma.</p> +<p>"Proud of you? You are an angel, and you know it."</p> +<p>She closed her eyes and sighed again. Even the bright avenues of +fame, which her keen eyes had traversed through the golden moon, +paled before this tribute from the lips of real flesh and blood. +What woman can withstand the fascination of a lover's faith that +she is an angel? If a man is fool enough to believe it, why +undeceive him? And if he is so sure of it, may it even not be so? +Selma was content to have it so, especially as the assertion did +not jar with her own prepossessions; and thus they rode home in the +summer night in the mutual contentment of a betrothal.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3> +<p>The match was thoroughly agreeable to Mrs. Farley, Selma's aunt +and nearest relation, who with her husband presided over a +flourishing poultry farm in Wilton. She was an easy-going, friendly +spirit, with a sharp but not wide vision, who did not believe that +a likelier fellow than Lewis Babcock would come wooing were her +niece to wait a lifetime. He was hearty, comical, and generous, and +was said to be making money fast in the varnish business. In short, +he seemed to her an admirable young man, with a stock of +common-sense and high spirits eminently serviceable for a domestic +venture. How full of fun he was, to be sure! It did her good to +behold the tribute his appetite paid to the buckwheat cakes with +cream and other tempting viands she set before him—a pleasing +contrast to Selma's starveling diet—and the hearty smack with +which he enforced his demands upon her own cheeks as his +mother-in-law apparent, argued an affectionate disposition. Burly, +rosy-cheeked, good-natured, was he not the very man to dispel her +niece's vagaries and turn the girl's morbid cleverness into healthy +channels?</p> +<p>Selma, therefore, found nothing but encouragement in her choice +at home; so by the end of another three months they were made man +and wife, and had moved into that little house in Benham which had +attracted Babcock's eye. Benham, as has been indicated, was in the +throes of bustle and self-improvement. Before the war it had been +essentially unimportant. But the building of a railroad through the +town and the discovery of oil wells in its neighborhood had +transformed it in a twinkling into an active and spirited centre. +Selma's new house was on the edge of the city, in the van of real +estate progress, one of a row of small but ambitious-looking +dwellings, over the dark yellow clapboards of which the architect +had let his imagination run rampant in scrolls and flourishes. +There was fancy colored glass in a sort of rose-window over the +front door, and lozenges of fancy glass here and there in the +facade. Each house had a little grass-plot, which Babcock in his +case had made appurtenant to a metal stag, which seemed to him the +finishing touch to a cosey and ornamental home. He had done his +best and with all his heart, and the future was before them.</p> +<p>Babcock found himself radiant over the first experiences of +married life. It was just what he had hoped, only better. His +imagination in entertaining an angel had not been unduly literal, +and it was a constant delight and source of congratulation to him +to reflect over his pipe on the lounge after supper that the +charming piece of flesh and blood sewing or reading demurely close +by was the divinity of his domestic hearth. There she was to smile +at him when he came home at night and enable him to forget the +cares and dross of the varnish business. Her presence across the +table added a new zest to every meal and improved his appetite. In +marrying he had expected to cut loose from his bachelor habits, and +he asked for nothing better than to spend every evening alone with +Selma, varied by an occasional evening at the theatre, and a drive +out to the Farleys' now and then for supper. This, with the regular +Sunday service at Rev. Henry Glynn's church, rounded out the weeks +to his perfect satisfaction. He was conscious of feeling that the +situation did not admit of improvement, for though, when he +measured himself with Selma, Babcock was humble-minded, a cheerful +and uncritical optimism was the ruling characteristic of his +temperament. With health, business fortune, and love all on his +side, it was natural to him to regard his lot with complacency. +Especially as to all appearances, this was the sort of thing Selma +liked, also. Presently, perhaps, there would be a baby, and then +their cup of domestic happiness would be overflowing. Babcock's +long ungratified yearning for the things of the spirit were fully +met by these cosey evenings, which he would have been glad to +continue to the crack of doom. To smoke and sprawl and read a +little, and exchange chit-chat, was poetry enough for him. So +contented was he that his joy was apt to find an outlet in ditties +and whistling—he possessed a slightly tuneful, rollicking +knack at both—a proceeding which commonly culminated in his +causing Selma to sit beside him on the sofa and be made much of, to +the detriment of her toilette.</p> +<p>As for the bride, so dazing were the circumstances incident to +the double change of matrimony and adaptation to city life, that +her judgment was in suspension. Yet though she smiled and sewed +demurely, she was thinking. The yellow clapboarded house and metal +stag, and a maid-of-all-work at her beck and call, were gratifying +at the outset and made demands upon her energies. Selma's position +in her father's house had been chiefly ornamental and social. She +had been his companion and nurse, had read to him and argued with +him, but the mere household work had been performed by an elderly +female relative who recognized that her mind was bent on higher +things. Nevertheless, she had never doubted that when the time +arrived to show her capacity as a housewife, she would be more than +equal to the emergency. Assuredly she would, for one of the +distinguishing traits of American womanhood was the ability to +perform admirably with one's own hand many menial duties and yet be +prepared to shine socially with the best. Still the experience was +not quite so easy as she expected; even harassing and mortifying. +Fortunately, Lewis was more particular about quantity than quality +where the table was concerned; and, after all, food and domestic +details were secondary considerations in a noble outlook. It would +have suited her never to be obliged to eat, and to be able to leave +the care of the house to the hired girl; but that being out of the +question, it became incumbent on her to make those obligations as +simple as possible. However, the possession of a new house and gay +fittings was an agreeable realization. At home everything had been +upholstered in black horse-hair, and regard for material +appearances had been obscured for her by the tension of her +introspective tendencies. Lewis was very kind, and she had no +reason to reproach herself as yet for her choice. He had insisted +that she should provide herself with an ample and more stylish +wardrobe, and though the invitation had interested her but mildly, +the effect of shrewdly-made and neatly fitting garments on her +figure had been a revelation. Like the touch of a man's hand, fine +raiment had seemed to her hitherto almost repellant, but it was +obvious now that anything which enhanced her effectiveness could +not be dismissed as valueless. To arrive at definite conclusions in +regard to her social surroundings was less easy for Selma. Benham, +in its rapid growth, had got beyond the level simplicity of +Westfield and Wilton, and was already confronted by the stern +realities which baffle the original ideal in every American city. +We like as a nation to cherish the illusion that extremes of social +condition do not exist even in our large communities, and that the +plutocrat and the saleslady, the learned professions and the +proletariat associate on a common basis of equal virtue, +intelligence, and culture. And yet, although Benham was a +comparatively young and an essentially American city, there were +very marked differences in all these respects in its community.</p> +<p>Topographically speaking the starting point of Benham was its +water-course. Twenty years before the war Benham was merely a +cluster of frame houses in the valley of the limpid, peaceful river +Nye. At that time the inhabitants drank of the Nye taken at a point +below the town, for there was a high fall which would have made the +drawing of water above less convenient. This they were doing when +Selma came to Benham, although every man's hand had been raised +against the Nye, which was the nearest, and hence for a community +in hot haste, the most natural receptacle for dyestuffs, ashes and +all the outflow from woollen mills, pork factories and oil yards, +and it ran the color of glistening bean soup. From time to time, as +the city grew, the drawing point had been made a little lower where +the stream had regained a portion of its limpidity, and no one but +wiseacres and busybodies questioned its wholesomeness. Benham at +that time was too preoccupied and too proud of its increasing +greatness to mistrust its own judgment in matters hygienic, +artistic, and educational. There came a day later when the river +rose against the city, and an epidemic of typhoid fever convinced a +reluctant community that there were some things which free-born +Americans did not know intuitively. Then there were public meetings +and a general indignation movement, and presently, under the +guidance of competent experts, Lake Mohunk, seven miles to the +north, was secured as a reservoir. Just to show how the temper of +the times has changed, and how sophisticated in regard to hygienic +matters some of the good citizens of Benham in these latter days +have become, it is worthy of mention that, though competent +chemists declare Lake Mohunk to be free from contamination, there +are those now who use so-called mineral spring-waters in +preference; notably Miss Flagg, the daughter of old Joel Flagg, +once the miller and, at the date when the Babcocks set up their +household gods, one of the oil magnates of Benham. He drank the +bean colored Nye to the day of his death and died at eighty; but +she carries a carboy of spring-water with her personal baggage +wherever she travels, and is perpetually solicitous in regard to +the presence of arsenic in wall-papers into the bargain.</p> +<p>Verily, the world has wagged apace in Benham since Selma first +looked out at her metal stag and the surrounding landscape. Ten +years later the Benham Home Beautifying Society took in hand the +Nye and those who drained into it, and by means of garbage +consumers, disinfectants, and filters and judiciously arranged +shrubbery converted its channel and banks into quite a respectable +citizens' paradise. But even at that time the industries on either +bank of the Nye, which flowed from east to west, were forcing the +retail shops and the residences further and further away. To +illustrate again from the Flagg family, just before the war Joel +Flagg built a modest house less than a quarter of a mile from the +southerly bank of the river, expecting to end his days there, and +was accused by contemporary censors of an intention to seclude +himself in magnificent isolation. About this time he had yielded to +the plea of his family, that every other building in the street had +been given over to trade, and that they were stranded in a social +Sahara of factories. So like the easy going yet soaring soul that +he was, he had moved out two miles to what was known as the River +Drive, where the Nye accomplishes a broad sweep to the south. There +an ambitious imported architect, glad of such an opportunity to +speculate in artistic effects, had built for him a conglomeration +of a feudal castle and an old colonial mansion in all the grisly +bulk of signal failure.</p> +<p>Considering our ideals, it is a wonder that no one has provided +a law forbidding the erection of all the architecturally +attractive, or sumptuous houses in one neighborhood. It ought not +to be possible in a republic for such a state of affairs to exist +as existed in Benham. That is to say all the wealth and fashion of +the city lay to the west of Central Avenue, which was so literally +the dividing line that if a Benhamite were referred to as living on +that street the conventional inquiry would be "On which side?" And +if the answer were "On the east," the inquirer would be apt to say +"Oh!" with a cold inflection which suggested a ban. No Benhamite +has ever been able to explain precisely why it should be more +creditable to live on one side of the same street than on the +other, but I have been told by clever women, who were good +Americans besides, that this is one of the subtle truths which +baffle the Gods and democracies alike. Central Avenue has long ago +been appropriated by the leading retail dry-goods shops, huge +establishments where everything from a set of drawing-room +furniture to a hair-pin can be bought under a single roof; but at +that time it was the social artery. Everything to the west was new +and assertive; then came the shops and the business centre; and to +the east were Tom, Dick, and Harry, Michael, Isaac and Pietro, the +army of citizens who worked in the mills, oil yards, and pork +factories. And to the north, across the river, on the further side +of more manufacturing establishments, was Poland, so-called—a +settlement of the Poles—to reach whom now there are seven +bridges of iron. There were but two bridges then, one of wood, and +journeys across them had not yet been revealed to philanthropic +young women eager to do good.</p> +<p>Selma's house lay well to the south-west of Central Avenue, far +enough removed from the River Drive and the Flagg mansion to be +humble and yet near enough to be called looking up. Their row was +complete and mainly occupied, but the locality was a-building, and +in the process of making acquaintance. So many strangers had come +to Benham that even Babcock knew but few of their neighbors. +Without formulating definitely how it was to happen, Selma had +expected to be received with open arms into a society eager to +recognize her salient qualities. But apparently, at first glance, +everybody's interest was absorbed by the butcher and grocer, the +dressmaker and the domestic hearth. That is, the other people in +their row seemed to be content to do as they were doing. The +husbands went to town every day—town which lay in the murky +distance—and their wives were friendly enough, but did not +seem to be conscious either of voids in their own existence or of +the privilege of her society. To be sure, they dressed well and +were suggestive in that, but they looked blank at some of her +inquiries, and appeared to feel their days complete if, after the +housework had been done and the battle fought with the hired girl, +they were able to visit the shopping district and pore over +fabrics, in case they could not buy them. Some were evidently +looking forward to the day when they might be so fortunate as to +possess one of the larger houses of the district a mile away, and +figure among what they termed "society people." There were others +who, in their satisfaction with this course of life, referred with +a touch of self-righteousness to the dwellers on the River Drive as +deserving reprobation on account of a lack of serious purpose. This +criticism appealed to Selma, and consoled her in a measure for the +half mortification with which she had begun to realize that she was +not of so much account as she had expected; at least, that there +were people not very far distant from her block who were different +somehow from her neighbors, and who took part in social proceedings +in which she and her husband were not invited to participate. +Manifestly they were unworthy and un-American. It was a comfort to +come to this conclusion, even though her immediate surroundings, +including the society of those who had put the taunt into her +thoughts, left her unsatisfied.</p> +<p>Some relief was provided at last by her church. Babcock was by +birth an Episcopalian, though he had been lax in his interest +during early manhood. This was one of the matters which he had +expected marriage to correct, and he had taken up again, not merely +with resignation but complacency, the custom of attending service +regularly. Dr. White had been a controversial Methodist, but since +his wife's death, and especially since the war, he had abstained +from religious observances, and had argued himself somewhat far +afield from the fold of orthodox belief. Consequently Selma, though +she attended church at Westfield when her father's ailments did not +require her presence at home, had been brought up to exercise her +faculties freely on problems of faith and to feel herself a little +more enlightened than the conventional worshipper. Still she was +not averse to following her husband to the Rev. Henry Glynn's +church. The experience was another revelation to her, for service +at Westfield had been eminently severe and unadorned. Mr. Glynn was +an Englishman; a short, stout, strenuous member of the Church of +England with a broad accent and a predilection for ritual, but +enthusiastic and earnest. He had been tempted to cross the ocean by +the opportunities for preaching the gospel to the heathen, and he +had fixed on Benham as a vineyard where he could labor to +advantage. His advent had been a success. He had awakened interest +by his fervor and by his methods. The pew taken by Babcock was one +of the last remaining, and there was already talk of building a +larger church to replace the chapel where he ministered. Choir +boys, elaborate vestments, and genuflections, were novelties in the +Protestant worship of Benham, and attracted the attention of many +almost weary of plainer forms of worship, especially as these +manifestations of color were effectively supplemented by evident +sincerity of spirit on the part of their pastor. Nor were his +energy and zeal confined to purely spiritual functions. The scope +of his church work was practical and social. He had organized from +the congregation societies of various sorts to relieve the poor; +Bible classes and evening reunions which the members of the parish +were urged to attend in order to become acquainted. Mr. Glynn's +manner was both hearty and pompous. To him there was no Church in +the world but the Church of England, and it was obvious that as one +of the clergy of that Church he considered himself to be no mean +man; but apart from this serious intellectual foible with respect +to his own relative importance, he was a stimulating Christian and +citizen within his lights. His active, crusading, and emotional +temperament just suited the seething propensities of Benham.</p> +<p>His flock comprised a few of the residents of the River Drive +district, among them the Flaggs, but was a fairly representative +mixture of all grades of society, including the poorest. These last +were specimens under spiritual duress rather than free worshippers, +and it was a constant puzzle to the reverend gentleman why, in the +matter of attendance, they, metaphorically speaking, sickened and +died. It had never been so in England. "Bonnets!" responded one day +Mrs. Hallett Taylor, who had become Mr. Glynn's leading ally in +parish matters, and was noted for her executive ability. She was an +engaging but clear-headed soul who went straight to the point.</p> +<p>"I do not fathom your meaning," said the pastor, a little +loftily, for the suggestion sounded flippant.</p> +<p>"It hurts their feelings to go to a church where their clothes +are shabby compared with those of the rest of the +congregation."</p> +<p>"Yes, but in God's chapel, dear lady, all such distinctions +should be forgotten."</p> +<p>"They can't forget, and I don't blame them much, poor things, do +you? It's the free-born American spirit. There now, Mr. Glynn, you +were asking me yesterday to suggest some one for junior warden. Why +not Mr. Babcock? They're new comers and seem available people."</p> +<p>Mr. Glynn's distress at her first question was merged in the +interest inspired by her second, for his glance had followed hers +until it rested on the Babcocks, who had just entered the vestry to +attend the social reunion. Selma's face wore its worried archangel +aspect. She was on her good behavior and proudly on her guard +against social impertinence. But she looked very pretty, and her +compact, slight figure indicated a busy way.</p> +<p>"I will interrogate him," he answered. "I have observed them +before, and—and I can't quite make out the wife. It is almost +a spiritual face, and yet—"</p> +<p>"Just a little hard and keen," broke in Mrs. Taylor, upon his +hesitation. "She is pretty, and she looks clever. I think we can +get some work out of her."</p> +<p>Thereupon she sailed gracefully in the direction of Selma. Mrs. +Taylor was from Maryland. Her husband, a physician, had come to +Benham at the close of the war to build up a practice, and his wife +had aided him by her energy and graciousness to make friends. +Unlike some Southerners, she was not indolent, and yet she +possessed all the ingratiating, spontaneous charm of well-bred +women from that section of the country. Her tastes were +æsthetic and ethical rather than intellectual, and her +special interest at the moment was the welfare of the church. She +thought it desirable that all the elements of which the +congregation was composed should be represented on the committees, +and Selma seemed to her the most obviously available person from +the class to which the Babcocks belonged.</p> +<p>"I want you to help us," she said. "I think you have ideas. We +need a woman with sense and ideas on our committee to build the new +church."</p> +<p>Selma was not used to easy grace and sprightly spontaneity. It +affected her at first much as the touch of man; but just as in that +instance the experience was agreeable. Life was too serious a thing +in her regard to lend itself casually to lightness, and yet she +felt instinctively attracted by this lack of self-consciousness and +self-restraint. Besides here was an opportunity such as she had +been yearning for. She had met Mrs. Taylor before, and knew her to +be the presiding genius of the congregation; and it was evident +that Mrs. Taylor had discovered her value.</p> +<p>"Thank you," she said, gravely, but cordially. "That is what I +should like. I wish to be of use. I shall be pleased to serve on +the committee."</p> +<p>"It will be interesting, I think. I have never helped build +anything before. Perhaps you have?"</p> +<p>"No," said Selma slowly. Her tone conveyed the impression that, +though her abilities had never been put to that precise test, the +employment seemed easily within her capacity.</p> +<p>"Ah! I am sure you will be suggestive" said Mrs. Taylor. "I am +right anxious that it shall be a credit in an architectural way, +you know."</p> +<p>Mr. Glynn, who had followed with more measured tread, now +mingled his hearty bass voice in the conversation. His mental +attitude was friendly, but inquisitorial; as seemed to him to befit +one charged with the cure of souls. He proceeded to ask questions, +beginning with inquiries conventional and domestic, but verging +presently on points of faith. Babcock, to whom they were directly +addressed, stood the ordeal well, revealing himself as flattered, +contrite, and zealous to avail himself of the blessings of the +church. He admitted that lately he had been lax in his spiritual +duties.</p> +<p>"We come every Sunday now," he said buoyantly, with a glance at +Selma as though to indicate that she deserved the credit of his +reformation.</p> +<p>"The holy sacrament of marriage has led many souls from darkness +into light, from the flesh-pots of Egypt to the table of the Lord" +Mr. Glynn answered. "And you, my daughter," he added, meaningly, +"guard well your advantage."</p> +<p>It was agreeable to Selma that the clergymen seemed to +appreciate her superiority to her embarrassed husband, especially +as she thought she knew that in England women were not expected to +have opinions of their own. She wished to say something to impress +him more distinctly with her cleverness, for though she was +secretly contemptuous of his ceremonials, there was something +impressive in his mandatory zeal. She came near asking whether he +held to the belief that it was wrong for a man to marry his +deceased wife's sister, which was the only proposition in relation +to the married state which occurred to her at the moment as likely +to show her independence, but she contented herself instead with +saying, with so much of Mrs. Taylor's spontaneity as she could +reproduce without practice, "We expect to be very happy in your +church."</p> +<p>Selma, however, supplemented her words with her tense spiritual +look. She felt happier than she had for weeks, inasmuch as life +seemed to be opening before her. For a few moments she listened to +Mr. Glynn unfold his hopes in regard to the new church, trying to +make him feel that she was no common woman. She considered it a +tribute to her when he took Lewis aside later and asked him to +become a junior warden.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3> +<p>At this time the necessity for special knowledge as to artistic +or educational matters was recognized grudgingly in Benham. Any +reputable citizen was considered capable to pass judgment on +statues and pictures, design a house or public building, and +prescribe courses of study for school-children. Since then the +free-born Benhamite, little by little, through wise legislation or +public opinion, born of bitter experience, has been robbed of these +prerogatives until, not long ago, the un-American and undemocratic +proposition to take away the laying out of the new city park from +the easy going but ignorant mercies of the so-called city forester, +who had been first a plumber and later an alderman, prevailed. An +enlightened civic spirit triumphed and special knowledge was +invoked.</p> +<p>That was twenty-five years later. Mrs. Hallett Taylor had found +herself almost single-handed at the outset in her purpose to build +the new church on artistic lines. Or rather the case should be +stated thus: Everyone agreed that it was to be the most beautiful +church in the country, consistent with the money, and no one +doubted that it would be, especially as everyone except Mrs. Taylor +felt that in confiding the matter to the leading architect in +Benham the committee would be exercising a wise and intelligent +discretion. Mr. Pierce, the individual suggested, had never, until +recently, employed the word architect in speaking of himself, and +he pronounced it, as did some of the committee, "arshitect," shying +a little at the word, as though it were caviare and anything but +American. He was a builder, practised by a brief but rushing career +in erecting houses, banks, schools, and warehouses speedily and +boldly. He had been on the spot when the new growth of Benham +began, and his handiwork was writ large all over the city. The city +was proud of him, and had, as it were, sniffed when Joel Flagg went +elsewhere for a man to build his new house. Surely, if it were +necessary to pay extra for that sort of thing, was not home talent +good enough? Yet it must be confessed that the ugly splendor of the +Flagg mediæval castle had so far dazed the eye of Benham that +its "arshitect" had felt constrained, in order to keep up with the +times, to try fancy flights of his own. He had silenced any +doubting Thomases by his latest effort, a new school-house, rich in +rampant angles and scrolls, on the brown-stone front of which the +name <i>Flagg School</i> appeared in ambitious, distorted +hieroglyphics.</p> +<p>Think what a wealth of imagery in the tossing of the second O on +top of the L. If artistic novelty and genius were sought for the +new church, here it was ready to be invoked. Besides, Mr. Pierce +was a brother-in-law of one of the members of the committee, and, +though the committee had the fear of God in their hearts in the +erection of his sanctuary, it was not easy to protest against the +near relative of a fellow member, especially one so competent.</p> +<p>The committee numbered seven. Selma had been chosen to fill a +vacancy caused by death, but at the time of her selection the +matter was still in embryo, and the question of an architect had +not been mooted. At the next meeting discussion arose as to whether +Mr. Pierce should be given the job, under the eagle eyes of a +sub-committee, or Mrs. Taylor's project of inviting competitive +designs should be adopted. It was known that Mr. Glynn, without +meaning disrespect to Mr. Pierce, favored the latter plan as more +progressive, a word always attractive to Benham ears when they had +time to listen. Its potency, coupled with veneration, for the +pastor's opinion, had secured the vote of Mr. Clyme, a banker. +Another member of the committee, a lawyer, favored Mrs. Taylor's +idea because of a grudge against Mr. Pierce. The chairman and +brother-in-law, and a hard-headed stove dealer, were opposed to the +competitive plan as highfalutin and unnecessary. Thus the deciding +vote lay with Selma.</p> +<p>Now that they were on the same committee, Mrs. Taylor could not +altogether make her out. She remembered that Mr. Glynn had said the +same thing. Mrs. Taylor was accustomed to conquests. Without actual +premeditation, she was agreeably conscious of being able to convert +and sweep most opponents off their feet by the force of her +pleasant personality. In this case the effect was not so obvious. +She was conscious that Selma's eyes were constantly fixed upon her, +but as to what she was thinking Mrs. Taylor felt less certain. +Clearly she was mesmerized, but was the tribute admiration or +hostility? Mrs. Taylor was piqued, and put upon her metal. Besides +she needed Selma's vote. Not being skilled in psychological +analyses, she had to resort to practical methods, and invited her +to afternoon tea.</p> +<p>Selma had never been present at afternoon tea as a domestic +function in her life. Nor had she seen a home like Mrs. Taylor's. +The house was no larger than her own, and had cost less. Medicine +had not been so lucrative as the manufacture of varnish. Externally +the house displayed stern lines of unadorned brick—the +custom-made style of Benham in the first throes of expansion before +Mr. Pierce's imagination had been stirred. Mr. Taylor had bought it +as it stood, and his wife had made no attempt to alter the outside, +which was, after all, inoffensively homely. But the interior was +bewildering to Selma's gaze in its suggestion of cosey comfort. +Pretty, tasteful things, many of them inexpensive knick-knacks of +foreign origin—a small picture, a bit of china, a +mediæval relic—were cleverly placed as a relief to the +conventional furniture. Selma had been used to formalism in +household garniture—to a best room little used and precise +with the rigor of wax flowers and black horse-hair, and to a living +room where the effect sought was purely utilitarian. Her new home, +in spite of its colored glass and iron stag, was arranged in much +this fashion, as were the houses of her neighbors which she had +entered.</p> +<p>Selma managed to seat herself on the one straight-backed chair +in the room. From this she was promptly driven by Mrs. Taylor and +established in one corner of a lounge with a soft silk cushion +behind her, and further propitiated by the proffer of a cup of tea +in a dainty cup and saucer. All this, including Mrs. Taylor's +musical voice, easy speech, and ingratiating friendliness, +alternately thrilled and irritated her. She would have liked to +discard her hostess from her thought as a light creature unworthy +of intellectual seriousness, but she found herself fascinated and +even thawed in spite of herself.</p> +<p>"I'm glad to have the opportunity really to talk to you," said +Mrs. Taylor. "At the church reunions one is so liable to +interruptions. If I'm not mistaken, you taught school before you +were married?"</p> +<p>"For a short time."</p> +<p>"That must have been interesting. It is so practical and +definite. My life," she added deprecatingly, "has been a thing of +threads and patches—a bit here and a bit there."</p> +<p>She paused, but without forcing a response, proceeded blithely +to touch on her past by way of illustration. The war had come just +when she was grown up, and her kin in Maryland were divided on the +issue. Her father had taken his family abroad, but her heart was in +the keeping of a young officer on the Northern side—now her +husband. Loss of property and bitterness of spirit had kept her +parents expatriated, and she, with them, had journeyed from place +to place in Europe. She had seen many beautiful places and +beautiful things. At last Major Taylor had come for her and carried +her off as his bride to take up again her life as an American.</p> +<p>"I am interested in Benham," she continued, "and I count on you, +Mrs. Babcock, to help make the new church what it ought to be +artistically—worthy of all the energy and independence there +is in this place."</p> +<p>Selma's eye kindled. The allusion to foreign lands had aroused +her distrust, but this patriotic avowal warmed her pulses.</p> +<p>"Every one is so busy with private affairs here, owing to the +rapid growth of the city," pursued Mrs. Taylor, "that there is +danger of our doing inconsiderately things which cannot easily be +set right hereafter. An ugly or tawdry-looking building may be an +eyesore for a generation. I know that we have honest and skilful +mechanics in Benham, but as trustees of the church funds, shouldn't +we at least make the effort to get the best talent there is? If we +have the cleverest architect here, so much the better. An open +competition will enable us to find out. After all Benham is only +one city among many, and a very new city. Why shouldn't we take +advantage of the ideas of the rest of the country—the older +portion of the country?"</p> +<p>"Mr. Pierce built our house, and we think it very satisfactory +and pretty."</p> +<p>Selma's tone was firm, but she eyed her hostess narrowly. She +had begun of late to distrust the æsthetic worth of the +colored glass and metal stag, and, though she was on her guard +against effrontery, she wished to know the truth. She knew that Mr. +Pierce, with fine business instinct, had already conveyed to her +husband the promise that he should furnish the varnish for the new +church in case of his own selection, which, as Babcock had +remarked, would be a nice thing all round.</p> +<p>Mrs. Taylor underwent the scrutiny without flinching. "I have +nothing to say against Mr. Pierce. He is capable within his lights. +Indeed I think it quite possible that we shall get nothing more +satisfactory elsewhere. Mr. Flagg's grim pile is anything but +encouraging. That may sound like an argument against my plan, but +in the case of the Flagg house there was no competition; merely +unenlightened choice on the one side and ignorant experimenting on +the other."</p> +<p>"You don't seem to think very highly of the appearance of +Benham," said Selma. The remark was slightly interrogative, but was +combative withal. She wished to know if everything, from the Flagg +mansion down, was open to criticism, but she would fain question +the authority of the censor—this glib, graceful woman whose +white, starched cuffs seemed to make light of her own sober, +unadorned wrists.</p> +<p>This time Mrs. Taylor flushed faintly. She realized that their +relations had reached a critical point, and that the next step +might be fatal. She put down her teacup, and leaning forward, said +with smiling confidential eagerness, "I don't. I wouldn't admit it +to anyone else. But what's the use of mincing matters with an +intelligent woman like you? I might put you off now, and declare +that Benham is well enough. But you would soon divine what I really +think, and that would be the end of confidence between us. I like +honesty and frankness, and I can see that you do. My opinion of +Benham architecture is that it is slip-shod and mongrel. There! You +see I put myself in your hands, but I do so because I feel sure you +nearly agree with me already. You know it's so, but you hate to +acknowledge it."</p> +<p>Selma's eyes were bright with interest. She felt flattered by +the appeal, and there was a righteous assurance in Mrs. Taylor's +manner which was convincing. She opened her mouth to say +something—what she did not quite know—but Mrs. Taylor +raised her hand by way of interdiction.</p> +<p>"Don't answer yet. Let me show you what I mean. I'm as proud of +Benham as anyone. I am absorbed by the place, I look to see it +fifty years hence—perhaps less—a great city, and a +beautiful city too. Just at present everything is commercial +and—and ethical; yes, ethical. We wish to do and dare, but we +haven't time to adorn as we construct. That is, most of us haven't. +But if a few determined spirits—women though they +be—cry 'halt,' art may get a chance here and there to assert +herself. Look at this," she said, gliding across the room and +holding up a small vase of exquisite shape and coloring, "I picked +it up on the other side and it stands almost for a lost art. The +hands and taste which wrought it represent the transmitted patience +and skill of hundreds of years. We like to rush things through in a +few weeks on a design hastily conceived by a Mr. Pierce because we +are so earnest. Now, we won't do it this time, will we?"</p> +<p>"No, we won't," said Selma. "I see what you mean. I was afraid +at first that you didn't give us credit for the +earnestness—for the ethical part. That's the first thing, the +great thing according to my idea, and it's what distinguishes us +from foreigners,—the foreigners who made that vase, for +instance. But I agree with you that there's such a thing as going +too fast, and very likely some of the buildings here aren't all +they might be. We don't need to model them on foreign patterns, but +we must have them pretty and right."</p> +<p>"Certainly, certainly, my dear. What we should strive for is +originality—American originality; but soberly, slowly. Art is +evolved painfully, little by little; it can't be bought ready-made +at shops for the asking like tea and sugar. If we invite designs +for the new church, we shall give the youths of the country who +have ideas seething in their heads a chance to express themselves. +Who knows but we may unearth a genius?"</p> +<p>"Who knows?" echoed Selma, with her spiritual look. "Yes, you +are right, Mrs. Taylor. I will help you. As you say, there must be +hundreds of young men who would like to do just that sort of thing. +I know myself what it is to have lived in a small place without the +opportunity to show what one could do; to feel the capacity, but to +be without the means and occasion to reveal what is in one. And now +that I understand we really look at things the same way, I'm glad +to join with you in making Benham beautiful. As you say, we women +can do much if we only will. I've the greatest faith in woman's +mission in this new, interesting nation of ours. Haven't you, Mrs. +Taylor? Don't you believe that she, in her new sphere of +usefulness, is one of the great moving forces of the Republic?" +Selma was talking rapidly, and had lost every trace of suspicious +restraint. She spoke as one transfigured.</p> +<p>"Yes, indeed," answered Mrs. Taylor, checking any disposition +she may have felt to interpose qualifications. She could acquiesce +generally without violence to her convictions, and she could not +afford to imperil the safety of the immediate issue—her +church. "I felt sure you would feel so if you only had time to +reflect," she added. "If you vote with us, you will have the +pleasant consciousness of knowing that you have advanced woman's +cause just so much."</p> +<p>"You may count on my vote."</p> +<p>Selma stopped on her way home, although it was late, to purchase +some white cuffs. As she approached, her husband stood on the +grass-plot in his shirt sleeves with a garden-hose. He was +whistling, and when he saw her he kissed his hand at her +jubilantly,</p> +<p>"Well, sweetheart, where you been?"</p> +<p>"Visiting. Taking tea with Mrs. Taylor. I've promised her to +vote to invite bids for the church plans."</p> +<p>Babcock looked surprised. "That'll throw Pierce out, won't +it?"</p> +<p>"Not unless some one else submits a better design than he."</p> +<p>Lewis scratched his head. "I considered that order for varnish +as good as booked."</p> +<p>"I'm not sure Mr. Pierce knows as much as he thinks he does," +said Selma oracularly. "We shall get plans from New York and +Boston. If we don't like them we needn't take them. But that's the +way to get an artistic thing. And we're going to have the most +artistic church in Benham. I'm sorry about the varnish, but a +principle is involved."</p> +<p>Babcock was puzzled but content. He cared far more for the +disappointment to Pierce than for the loss of the order. But apart +from the business side of the question, he never doubted that his +wife must be right, nor did he feel obliged to inquire what +principle was involved. He was pleased to have her associate with +Mrs. Taylor, and was satisfied that she would be a credit to him in +any situation where occult questions of art or learning were +mooted. He dropped his hose and pulled her down beside him on the +porch settee. There was a beautiful sunset, and the atmosphere was +soft and refreshing. Selma felt satisfied with herself. As Mrs. +Taylor had said, it was her vote which would turn the scale on +behalf of progress. Other things, too, were in her mind. She was +not ready to admit that she had been instructed, but she was +already planning changes in her own domestic interior, suggested by +what she had seen.</p> +<p>She let her husband squeeze her hand, but her thoughts were +wandering from his blandishments. Presently she said: "Lewis, I've +begun lately to doubt if that stag is really pretty."</p> +<p>"The stag? Well, now, I've always thought it tasty—one of +the features of our little place."</p> +<p>"No one would mistake it for a real deer. It looks to me almost +comical."</p> +<p>Babcock turned to regard judicially the object of her +criticism.</p> +<p>"I like it," he said somewhat mournfully, as though he were +puzzled. "But if you don't, we'll change the stag for something +else. I wish you to be pleased first of all. Instead we might have +a fountain; two children under an umbrella I saw the other day. It +was cute. How does that strike you?"</p> +<p>"I can't tell without seeing it. And, Lewis, promise me that you +won't select anything new of that sort until I have looked at +it."</p> +<p>"Very well," Babcock answered submissively. But he continued to +look puzzled. In his estimate of his wife's superiority to himself +in the subtleties of life, it had never occurred to him to include +the choice of every-day objects of art. He had eyes and could judge +for himself like any other American citizen. Still, he was only too +glad to humor Selma in such an unimportant matter, especially as he +was eager for her happiness.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3> +<p>Seven designs for the new church were submitted, including three +from Benham architects. The leaven of influence exercised by +spirits like Mrs. Taylor was only just beginning to work, and the +now common custom of competing outside one's own bailiwick was +still in embryo. Mr. Pierce's design was bold and sumptuous. His +brother-in-law stated oracularly not long before the day when the +plans were to be opened: "Pierce is not a man to be frightened out +of a job by frills. Mark my words; he will give us an elegant +thing." Mr. Pierce had conceived the happy thought of combining a +Moorish mosque and New England meeting-house in a conservative and +equitable medley, evidently hoping thereby to be both picturesque +and traditional. The result, even on paper, was too bold for some +of his admirers. The chairman was heard to remark: "I shouldn't +feel as though I was in church. That dome set among spires is close +to making a theatre of the house of God."</p> +<p>The discomfiture of the first architect of Benham cleared the +way for the triumph of Mrs. Taylor's taste. The design submitted by +Wilbur Littleton of New York, seemed to her decidedly the most +meritorious. It was graceful, appropriate, and artistic; entirely +in harmony with religious associations, yet agreeably different +from every day sanctuaries. The choice lay between his and that +presented by Mr. Cass, a Benham builder—a matter-of-fact, +serviceable, but very conventional edifice. The hard-headed stove +dealer on the committee declared in favor of the native design, as +simpler and more solid.</p> +<p>"It'll be a massive structure" he said, "and when it's finished +no one will have to ask what it is. It'll speak for itself. Mr. +Cass is a solid business man, and we know what we'll get. The other +plan is what I call dandified."</p> +<p>It was evident to the committee that the stove dealer's final +criticism comprehended the architect as well as his design. Several +competitors—Littleton among them—had come in person to +explain the merits of their respective drawings, and by the side of +solid, red-bearded, undecorative Mr. Cass, Littleton may well have +seemed a dandy. He was a slim young man with a delicate, sensitive +face and intelligent brown eyes. He looked eager and interesting. +In his case the almost gaunt American physiognomy was softened by a +suggestion of poetic impulses. Yet the heritage of nervous energy +was apparent. His appearance conveyed the impression of quiet +trigness and gentility. His figure lent itself to his clothes, +which were utterly inconspicuous, judged by metropolitan standards, +but flawless in the face of hard-headed theories of life, and +aroused suspicion. He spoke in a gentle but earnest manner, +pointing out clearly, yet modestly, the merits of his +composition.</p> +<p>Selma had never seen a man just like him before, and she noticed +that from the outset his eyes seemed to be fastened on her as +though his words were intended for her special benefit. She had +never read the lines—indeed they had not been +written—</p> +<p>"I think I could be happy with a gentleman like you."</p> +<p>Nor did the precise sentiment contained in them shape itself in +her thought. Yet she was suddenly conscious that she had been +starving for lack of intellectual companionship, and that he was +the sort of man she had hoped to meet—the sort of man who +could appreciate her and whom she could appreciate.</p> +<p>It did not become necessary for Selma to act as Mr. Littleton's +champion, for the stove dealer's criticism found only one +supporter. The New Yorker's design for the church was so obviously +pretty and suitable that a majority of the Committee promptly +declared in its favor. The successful competitor, who had remained +a day to learn the result, was solemnly informed of the decision, +and then elaborately introduced to the members. In shaking hands +with him, Selma experienced a shade of embarrassment. It was plain +that his words to her, spoken with a low bow—"I am very much +gratified that my work pleases you" conveyed a more spiritual +significance than was contained in his thanks to the others. Still +he seemed more at his ease with Mrs. Taylor, who promptly broke the +ice of the situation by fixing him as a close relative of friends +in Baltimore. Straightway he became sprightly and voluble, speaking +of things and people beyond Selma's experience. This social jargon +irritated Selma. It seemed to her a profanation of a noble +character, yet she was annoyed because she could not +understand.</p> +<p>Mrs. Taylor, having discovered in Mr. Littleton one who should +have been a friend long before, succeeded in carrying him off to +dinner. Yet, before taking his leave, he came back to Selma for a +few words. She had overheard Mrs. Taylor's invitation, and she +asked herself why she too might not become better acquainted with +this young man whose attitude toward her was that of respectful +admiration. To have a strange young man to dine off-hand struck her +as novel. She had a general conviction that it would seem to Lewis +closely allied to light conduct, and that only foreigners or +frivolous people let down to this extent the bars of family life. +Now that Mrs. Taylor had set her the example, she was less certain +of the moral turpitude of such an act, but she concluded also that +her husband would be in the way at table. What she desired was an +opportunity for a long, interesting chat about high things.</p> +<p>While she reflected, he was saying to her, "I understand that +your committee is to supervise my work until the new church is +completed, so I shall hope to have the opportunity to meet you +occasionally. It will be necessary for me to make trips here from +time to time to see that everything is being done correctly by the +mechanics."</p> +<p>"Do you go away immediately?"</p> +<p>"It may be that I shall be detained by the arrangements which I +must make here until day after to-morrow."</p> +<p>"If you would really like to see me, I live at 25 Onslow +Avenue."</p> +<p>"Thank you very much." Littleton took out a small memorandum +book and carefully noted the address. "Mrs. Babcock, 25 Onslow +Avenue. I shall make a point of calling to-morrow afternoon if I +stay—and probably I shall."</p> +<p>He bowed and left Selma pleasantly stirred by the interview. His +voice was low and his enunciation sympathetically fluent. She said +to herself that she would give him afternoon tea and they would +compare ideas together. She felt sure that his must be +interesting.</p> +<p>Later in the evening at Mrs. Taylor's, when there was a pause in +their sympathetic interchange of social and æsthetic +convictions, Littleton said abruptly:</p> +<p>"Tell me something, please, about Mrs. Babcock. She has a +suggestive as well as a beautiful face, and it is easy to perceive +that she is genuinely American—not one of the women of whom +we were speaking, who seem to be ashamed of their own institutions, +and who ape foreign manners and customs. I fancy she would +illustrate what I was saying just now as to the vital importance of +our clinging to our heritage of independent thought—of +accepting the truth of the ancient order of things without allowing +its lies and demerits to enslave us."</p> +<p>"I suppose so," said Mrs. Taylor. "She certainly does not belong +to the dangerous class of whom you were speaking. I was flattering +myself that neither did I, for I was agreeing with all you said as +to the need of cherishing our native originality. Yet I must +confess that now that you compare me with her (the actual +comparison is my own, but you instigated it), I begin to feel more +doubts about myself—that is if she is the true species, and +I'm inclined to think she is. Pray excuse this indirect method of +answering your inquiry; it is in the nature of a soliloquy; it is +an airing of thoughts and doubts which have been harassing me for a +fortnight—ever since I knew Mrs. Babcock. Really, Mr. +Littleton, I can tell you very little about her. She is a new-comer +on the horizon of Benham; she has been married very recently; I +believe she has taught school and that she was brought up not far +from here. She is as proud as Lucifer and sometimes as beautiful; +she is profoundly serious and—and apparently very ignorant. I +fancy she is clever and capable in her way, but I admit she is an +enigma to me and that I have not solved it. I can see she does not +approve of me altogether. She regards me with suspicion, and yet +she threw the casting vote in favor of my proposal to open the +competition for the church to architects from other places. I am +trying to like her, for I wish to believe in everything genuinely +American if I can. There, I have told you all I know, and to a man +she may seem altogether attractive and inspiring."</p> +<p>"Thank you. I had no conception that I was broaching such a +complex subject. She sounds interesting, and my curiosity is +whetted. You have not mentioned the husband."</p> +<p>"To be sure. A burly, easy-going manufacturer of varnish, +without much education, I should judge. He is manifestly her +inferior in half a dozen ways, but I understand that he is making +money, and he looks kind."</p> +<p>Wilbur Littleton's life since he had come to man's estate had +been a struggle, and he was only just beginning to make headway. He +had never had time to commiserate himself, for necessity on the one +hand and youthful ambition on the other had kept his energies tense +and his thoughts sane and hopeful. He and his sister Pauline, a +year his senior, had been left orphans while both were students by +the death of their father on the battlefield. To persevere in their +respective tastes and work out their educations had been a labor of +love, but an undertaking which demanded rigorous self-denial on the +part of each. Wilbur had determined to become an architect. +Pauline, early interested in the dogma that woman must no longer be +barred from intellectual companionship with man, had sought to +cultivate herself intelligently without sacrificing her brother's +domestic comfort. She had succeeded. Their home in New York, +despite its small dimensions and frugal hospitality, was already a +favorite resort of a little group of professional people with busy +brains and light purses. Wilbur was in the throes of early +progress. He had no relatives or influential friends to give him +business, and employment came slowly. He had been an architect on +his own account for two years, but was still obliged to supplement +his professional orders by work as a draughtsman for others. Yet +his enthusiasm kept him buoyant. In respect to his own work he was +scrupulous; indeed, a stern critic. He abhorred claptrap and +specious effects, and aimed at high standards of artistic +expression. This gave him position among his brother architects, +but was incompatible with meteoric progress. His design for the +church at Benham represented much thought and hope, and he felt +happy at his success.</p> +<p>Littleton's familiarity with women, apart from his sister, had +been slight, but his thoughts regarding them were in keeping with a +poetic and aspiring nature. He hoped to marry some day, and he was +fond of picturing to himself in moments of reverie the sort of +woman to whom his heart would be given. In the shrine of his secret +fancy she appeared primarily as an object of reverence, a +white-souled angel of light clad in the graceful outlines of flesh, +an Amazon and yet a winsome, tender spirit, and above all a being +imbued with the stimulating intellectual independence he had been +taught to associate with American womanhood. She would be the +loving wife of his bosom and the intelligent sharer of his thoughts +and aspirations—often their guide. So pure and exacting was +his ideal that while alive to the value of coyness and coquetry as +elements of feminine attraction for others, Wilbur had chosen to +regard the maiden of his faith as too serious a spirit to +condescend to such vanities; and from a similar vein of +appreciation he was prone to think of her as unadorned, or rather +untarnished, by the gewgaws of fashionable dressmaking and +millinery. His first sight of Selma had made him conscious that +here was a face not unlike what he had hoped to encounter some day, +and he had instinctively felt her to be sympathetic. He was even +conscious of disappointment when he heard her addressed as Mrs. +Babcock. Evidently she was a free-born soul, unhampered by the +social weaknesses of a large city, and illumined by the spiritual +grace of native womanliness. So he thought of her, and Mrs. +Taylor's diagnosis rather confirmed than impaired his impression, +for in Mrs. Taylor Wilbur felt he discerned a trace of antagonism +born of cosmopolitan prejudice—an inability to value at its +true worth a nature not moulded on conventional lines. Rigorous as +he was in his judgments, and eager to disown what was cheap or +shallow, mere conventionalism, whether in art or daily life, was no +less abhorrent to him. Here, he said to himself, was an original +soul, ignorant and unenlightened perhaps, but endowed with swift +perception and capable of noble development.</p> +<p>The appearance of Selma's scroll and glass bedizened house did +not affect this impression. Wilbur was first of all appreciatively +an American. That is he recognized that native energy had hitherto +been expended on the things of the spirit to the neglect of things +material. As an artist he was supremely interested in awakening and +guiding the national taste in respect to art, but at the same time +he was thoroughly aware that the peculiar vigor and independence of +character which he knew as Americanism was often utterly +indifferent to, or ignorant of, the value of æsthetics. After +all, art was a secondary consideration, whereas the inward vision +which absorbed the attention of the thoughtful among his countrymen +and countrywomen was an absolute essential without which the soul +must lose its fineness. He himself was seeking to show that beauty, +in external material expression, was not merely consistent with +strong ideals but requisite to their fit presentment. He recognized +too that the various and variegated departures from the monotonous +homely pattern of the every-day American house, which were evident +in each live town, were but so many indicators that the nation was +beginning to realize the truth of this. His battle was with the +designers and builders who were guiding falsely and flamboyantly, +not with the deceived victims, nor with those who were still +satisfied merely to look inwardly, and ignored form and color. +Hence he would have been able to behold the Babcocks' iron stag +without rancor had the animal still occupied the grass-plot. Selma, +when she saw the figure of her visitor in the door-way, +congratulated herself that it had been removed. It would have +pleased her to know that Mr. Littleton had already placed her in a +niche above the level of mere grass-plot considerations. That was +where she belonged of course; but she was fearful on the score of +suspected shortcomings. So it was gratifying to be able to receive +him in a smarter gown, to be wearing white cuffs, and to offer him +tea with a touch of Mrs. Taylor's tormenting urbanity. Not so +unreservedly as she. That would never do. It was and never would be +in keeping with her own ideas of serious self-respect. Still a +touch of it was grateful to herself. She felt that it was a grace +and enhanced her effectiveness.</p> +<p>A few moments later Selma realized that for the first time since +she had lived in Benham she was being understood and appreciated. +She felt too that for the first time she was talking to a kindred +spirit—to be sure, to one different, and more technically +proficient in concrete knowledge, possibly more able, too, to +express his thoughts in words, but eminently a comrade and +sympathizer. She was not obliged to say much. Nor were, indeed, his +actual words the source of her realization. The revelation came +from what was left unsaid—from the silent recognition by him +that she was worthy to share his best thoughts and was herself a +serious worker in the struggle of life. No graceful but galling +attitude of superiority, no polite indifference to her soul-hunger, +no disposition to criticise. And yet he was no less voluble, +clever, and spirited than Mrs. Taylor. She listened with wrapt +interest to his easy talk, which was ever grave in tone, despite +his pleasant sallies. He spoke of Benham with quick appreciation of +its bustling energy, and let her see that he divined its capacity +for greatness. This led him to refer with kindling eyes to the keen +impulse toward education and culture which was animating the +younger men and women of the country; to the new beginnings of art, +literature, and scientific investigation. At scarcely a hint from +her he told briefly of his past life and his hopes, and fondly +mentioned his sister and her present absorption in some history +courses for women.</p> +<p>"And you?" he said. "You are a student, too. Mrs. Taylor has +told me, but I should have guessed it. Duties even more interesting +claim you now, but it is easy to perceive that you have known that +other happiness, 'To scorn delights and live laborious days.'"</p> +<p>His words sounded musical, though the quotation from Lycidas was +unfamiliar to her ears. Her brain was thrilling with the import of +all he had told her—with his allusions to the intellectual +and ethical movements of Boston and New York, in which she felt +herself by right and with his recognition a partner and peer.</p> +<p>"You were teaching school when you married, I believe?" he +added.</p> +<p>"Yes."</p> +<p>"And before that, if I may ask?"</p> +<p>"I lived at Westfield with my father. It is a small country +town, but we tried to be in earnest."</p> +<p>"I understand—I understand. You grew up among the trees, +and the breezes and the brooks, those wonderful wordless teachers. +I envy you, for they give one time to think—to expand. I have +known only city life myself. It is stimulating, but one is so +easily turned aside from one's direct purpose. Do you write at +all?"</p> +<p>"Not yet. But I have wished to. Some day I shall. Just now I +have too many domestic concerns to—"</p> +<p>She did not finish, for Babcock's heavy tread and whistle +resounded in the hall and at the next moment he was calling +"Selma!"</p> +<p>She felt annoyed at being interrupted, but she divined that it +would never do to show it.</p> +<p>"My husband," she said, and she raised her voice to utter with a +sugared dignity which would have done credit to Mrs. Taylor,</p> +<p>"I am in the parlor, Lewis."</p> +<p>"Enter your chief domestic concern," said Littleton blithely. "A +happy home is preferable to all the poems and novels in the +world."</p> +<p>Babcock, pushing open the door, which stood ajar, stopped short +in his melody.</p> +<p>"This is Mr. Littleton, Lewis. The architect of our new +church."</p> +<p>"Pleased to make your acquaintance." And by way of accounting +for the sudden softening of his brow, Babcock added, "I set you +down at first as one of those lightning-rod agents. There was one +here last week who wouldn't take 'no' for an answer."</p> +<p>"He has an advantage over me," answered Littleton with a laugh. +"In my business a man can't solicit orders. He has to sit and wait +for them to come to him."</p> +<p>"I want to know. My wife thinks a lot of your drawings for the +new church."</p> +<p>"I hope to make it a credit to your city. I've just been saying +to your wife, Mr. Babcock, that Benham has a fine future before it. +The very atmosphere seems charged with progress."</p> +<p>Babcock beamed approvingly. "It's a driving place, sir. The man +in Benham who stops by the way-side to scratch his head gets left +behind. When we moved into this house a year ago looking through +that window we were at the jumping-off place; now you see houses +cropping up in every direction. It's going to be a big city. +Pleased to have you stop to supper with us," he added with burly +suavity as their visitor rose.</p> +<p>Littleton excused himself and took his leave. Babcock escorted +him to the front door and full of his subject delayed him on the +porch to touch once more on the greatness of Benham. There was a +clumsy method too in this optimistic garrulity, for at the close he +referred with some pride to his own business career, and made a +tender of his business card, "Lewis Babcock & Company, +Varnishes," with a flourish. "If you do anything in my line, +pleased to accommodate you."</p> +<p>Littleton departing, tickled by a pleasant sense of humor, +caught through the parlor window a last glimpse of Selma's inspired +face bowing gravely, yet wistfully, in acknowledgment of his lifted +hat, and he strode away under the spell of a brain picture which he +transmuted into words: "There's the sort of case where the cynical +foreigner fails to appreciate the true import of our American life. +That couple typifies the elements of greatness in our every-day +people. At first blush the husband's rough and material, but he's +shrewd and enterprising and vigorous—the bread winner. He's +enormously proud of her, and he has reason to be, for she is a +constant stimulus to higher things. Little by little, and without +his knowing it, perhaps, she will smoothe and elevate him, and they +will develop together, growing in intelligence and cultivation as +they wax in worldly goods. After all, woman is our most marvellous +native product—that sort of woman. Heigho!" Having given vent +to this sigh, Littleton proceeded to recognize the hopelessness of +the personal situation by murmuring with a slightly forced access +of sprightliness</p> +<p>"If she be not fair for me,<br /> +What care I how fair she be?"</p> +<p>Still he intended to see more of Mrs. Babcock, and that without +infringing the tenth or any other commandment. To flirt with a +married woman savored to him of things un-American and unworthy, +and Littleton had much too healthy an imagination to rhapsodize +from such a stand-point. Yet he foresaw that they might be mutually +respecting friends.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER V.</h3> +<p>Selma knew intuitively that an American woman was able to cook a +smooth custard, write a poem and control real society with one and +the same brain and hand, and she was looking forward to the +realization of the apotheosis; but, though she was aware that +children are the natural increment of wedlock, she had put the idea +from her ever since her marriage as impersonal and vaguely +disgusting. Consequently her confinement came as an unwelcome +interruption of her occupations and plans.</p> +<p>Her connection with the committee for the new church had proved +an introduction to other interests, charitable and social. One day +she was taken by Mrs. Taylor to a meeting of the Benham Woman's +Institute, a literary club recently established by Mrs. Margaret +Rodney Earle, a Western newspaper woman who had made her home in +Benham. Selma came in upon some twenty of her own sex in a hotel +private parlor hired weekly for the uses of the Institute. Mrs. +Earle, the president, a large florid woman of fifty, with gray hair +rising from the brow, fluent of speech, endowed with a public +manner, a commanding bust and a vigorous, ingratiating smile, +wielded a gavel at a little table and directed the exercises. A +paper on Shakespeare's heroines was read and discussed. Selections +on the piano followed. A thin woman in eye-glasses, the literary +editor of the <i>Benham Sentinel</i>, recited "Curfew must not ring +to-night," and a visitor from Wisconsin gave an exhibition in +melodious whistling. In the intervals, tea, chocolate with whipped +cream and little cakes were dispensed.</p> +<p>Selma was absorbed and thrilled. What could be more to her taste +than this? At the close of the whistling exercise, Mrs. Earle came +over and spoke to her. They took a strong fancy to each other on +the spot. Selma preferred a person who would tell you everything +about herself and to whom you could tell everything about yourself +without preliminaries. People like Mrs. Taylor repressed her, but +the motherly loquacity and comprehension of Mrs. Earle drew her out +and thawed at once and forever the ice of acquaintanceship. Before +she quite realized the extent of this fascination she had promised +to recite something, and as in a dream, but with flushing cheeks, +she heard the President rap the table and announce "You will be +gratified to hear that a talented friend who is with us has kindly +consented to favor us with a recital. I have the honor to introduce +Mrs. Lewis Babcock."</p> +<p>After the first flush of nervousness, Selma's grave dignity came +to her support, and justified her completely in her own eyes. Her +father had been fond of verse, especially of verse imbued with +moral melancholy, and at his suggestion she had learned and had +been wont to repeat many of the occasional pieces which he cut from +the newspapers and collected in a scrap-book. Her own preference +among these was the poem, "O why should the spirit of mortal be +proud?" which she had been told was a great favorite of Abraham +Lincoln. It was this piece which came into her mind when Mrs. Earle +broached the subject, and this she proceeded to deliver with august +precision. She spoke clearly and solemnly without the trace of the +giggling protestation which is so often incident to feminine +diffidence. She treated the opportunity with the seriousness +expected, for though the Institute was not proof against light and +diverting contributions, as the whistling performance indicated, +levity of spirit would have been out of place.</p> +<p>"'Tis a twink of the eye, 'tis a draught of the breath<br /> +From the blossom of health to the paleness of death;<br /> +From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud,<br /> +O why should the spirit of mortal be proud?"</p> +<p>Selma enjoyed the harmony between the long, slow cadence of the +metre and the important gravity of the theme. She rolled out the +verses with the intensity of a seer, and she looked a beautiful +seer as well. Liberal applause greeted her as she sat down, though +the clapping woman is apt to be a feeble instrument at best. Selma +knew that she had produced an impression and she was moved by her +own effectiveness. She was compelled to swallow once or twice to +conceal the tears in her voice while listening to the +congratulations of Mrs. Earle. The words which she had just recited +were ringing through her brain and seemed to her to express the +pitch at which her life was keyed.</p> +<p>Selma was chosen a member of the Institute at the next meeting, +and forthwith she became intimate with the president. Mrs. Margaret +Rodney Earle was, as she herself phrased it, a live woman. She +supported herself by writing for the newspapers articles of a +morally utilitarian character—for instance a winter's series, +published every Saturday, "Hints on Health and Culture," or again, +"Receipts for the Parlor and the Kitchen." She also contributed +poetry of a pensive cast, and chatty special correspondence +flavored with personal allusion. She was one of the pioneers in +modern society journalism, which at this time, however, was +comparatively veiled and delicate in its methods. Besides, she was +a woman of tireless energy, with theories on many subjects and an +ardor for organization. She advocated prohibition, the free +suffrage of woman, the renunciation of corsets, and was interested +in reforms relating to labor, the pauper classes and the public +schools. In behalf of any of these causes she was ready from time +to time to dash off an article at short notice or address an +audience. But her dearest concern was the promotion of woman's +culture and the enlargement of woman's sphere of usefulness through +the club. The idea of the woman's club, which was taking root over +the country, had put in the shade for the time being all her other +plans, including the scheme of a society for making the golden-rod +the national flower. As the founder and president of the Benham +Institute, she felt that she had found an avocation peculiarly +adapted to her capacities, and she was already actively in +correspondence with clubs of a similar character in other cities, +in the hope of forming a national organization for mutual +enlightenment and support.</p> +<p>Mrs. Earle received Selma by invitation at her lodgings the +following day, and so quickly did their friendship ripen that at +the end of two hours each had told the other everything. Selma was +prone instinctively to regard as aristocratic and un-American any +limitations to confidence. The evident disposition on the part of +Mrs. Earle to expose promptly and without reserve the facts of her +past and her plans for the future seemed to Selma typical of an +interesting character, and she was thankful to make a clean breast +in her turn as far as was possible. Mrs. Earle's domestic +experience had been thorny.</p> +<p>"I had a home once, too," she said, "a happy home, I thought. My +husband said he loved me. But almost from the first we had trouble. +It went on so from month to month, and finally we agreed to part. +He objected, my dear, to my living my own life. He didn't like me +to take an interest in things outside the house—public +matters. I was elected on the school-board—the only +woman—and he ought to have been proud. He said he was, at +first, but he was too fond of declaring that a woman's place is in +her kitchen. One day I said to him, 'Ellery, this can't go on. If +we can't agree we'd better separate. A cat-and-dog life is no life +at all.' He answered back, 'I'm not asking you to leave me, but if +you're set on it don't let me hinder you, Margaret. You don't need +a man to support you. You're as good as a man yourself.' He meant +that to be sarcastic, I suppose. 'Yes,' said I, 'thank God, I think +I can take care of myself, even though I am a woman.' That was the +end of it. There was no use for either of us to get excited. I +packed my things, and a few mornings later I said to him, 'Good-by, +Ellery Earle: I wish you well, and I suppose you're my husband +still, but I'm going to live my own life without let or hindrance +from any man. There's your ring.' My holding out the ring was +startling to him, for he said, 'Aren't you going to be sorry for +this, Margaret?' 'No,' said I, 'I've thought it all out, and it's +best for both of us. There's your ring.' He wouldn't take it, so I +dropped it on the table and went out. Some people miss it, and +misbelieve I was ever married. That was close on to twenty years +ago, and I've never seen him since. When the war broke out I heard +he enlisted, but what's become of him I don't know. Maybe he got a +divorce. I've kept right on and lived my own life in my own way, +and never lacked food or raiment. I'm forty-five years old, but I +feel a young woman still."</p> +<p>Notwithstanding Mrs. Earle's business-like directness and the +protuberance of her bust in conclusion, by way of reasserting her +satisfaction with the results of her action, there was a touch of +plaintiveness in her confession which suggested the womanly author +of "Hints on Culture and Hygiene," rather than the man-hater. This +was lost on Selma, who was fain to sympathize purely from the +stand-point of righteousness.</p> +<p>"It was splendid," she said. "He had no right to prevent you +living your own life. No husband has that right."</p> +<p>Mrs. Earle brushed her eyes with her handkerchief. "You musn't +think, my dear, that I'm not a believer in the home because mine +has been unhappy—because my husband didn't or couldn't +understand. The true home is the inspirer and nourisher of all that +is best in life—in our American life; but men must learn the +new lesson. There are many homes—yours, I'm sure—where +the free-born American woman has encouragement and the opportunity +to expand."</p> +<p>"Oh, yes. My husband lets me do as I wish. I made him promise +before I accepted him that he wouldn't thwart me; that he'd let me +live my own life."</p> +<p>Selma was so appreciative of Mrs. Earle, and so energetic and +suggestive in regard to the scope of the Institute, that she was +presently chosen a member of the council, which was the body +charged with the supervision of the fortnightly entertainments. It +occurred to her as a brilliant conception to have Littleton address +the club on "Art," and she broached the subject to him when he next +returned to Benham and appeared before the church committee. He +declared that he was too busy to prepare a suitable lecture, but he +yielded finally to her plea that he owed it to himself to let the +women of Benham hear his views and opinions.</p> +<p>"They are wives and they are mothers," said Selma sententiously. +"It was a woman's vote, you remember, which elected you to build +our church. You owe it to Art; don't you think so?"</p> +<p>A logical appeal to his conscience was never lost on Littleton. +Besides he was glad to oblige Mrs. Babcock, who seemed so earnest +in her desire to improve the æsthetic taste of Benham. +Accordingly, he yielded. The lecture was delivered a few weeks +later and was a marked success, for Littleton's earnestness of +theme and manner was relieved by a graceful, sympathetic delivery. +Selma, whose social aplomb was increasing every day, glided about +the rooms with a contented mien receiving felicitations and passing +chocolate. She enjoyed the distinction of being the God behind the +curtain.</p> +<p>A few days later the knowledge that she herself was to become a +mother was forced upon her attention, and was a little irksome. Of +necessity her new interests would be interrupted. Though she did +not question that she would perform maternal duties fitly and +fully, they seemed to her less peculiarly adapted to her than +concerns of the intellect and the spirit. However, the possession +of a little daughter was more precious to her than she had +expected, and the consciousness that the tiny doll which lay upon +her breast, was flesh of her flesh and bone of her bone affected +her agreeably and stirred her imagination. It should be reared, +from the start, in the creed of soul independence and expansion, +and she herself would find a new and sacred duty in catering to the +needs of this budding intelligence. So she reflected as she lay in +bed, but the outlook was a little marred by the thought that the +baby was the living image of its father—broad-featured and +burly—not altogether desirable cast of countenance for a +girl. What a pity, when it might just as well have looked like +her.</p> +<p>Babcock, on his part, was transported by paternity. He was +bubbling over with appreciation of the new baby, and fondly +believed it to be a human wonder. He was solicitous on the score of +its infantile ailments, and loaded it with gifts and toys beyond +the scope of its enjoyment. He went about the house whistling more +exuberantly than ever. There was no speck on his horizon; no fly in +his pot of ointment. It was he who urged that the child should be +christened promptly, though Dr. Glynn was not disposed to dwell on +the clerical barbarism as to the destiny of unbaptized infants. +Babcock was cultivating a conservative method: He realized that +there was no object in taking chances. Illogical as was the theory +that a healthy dog which had bitten him should be killed at once, +lest it subsequently go mad and he contract hydrophobia, he was too +happy and complacent to run the risk of letting it live. So it was +with regard to baby. But Selma chose the name. Babcock preferred in +this order another Selma, Sophia, after his mother, or a compliment +to the wife of the President of the United States. But Selma, as +the result of grave thought, selected Muriel Grace. Without knowing +exactly why, she asked Mrs. Taylor to be godmother. The ceremony +was solemn and inspiring to her. She knew from the glass in her +room that she was looking very pretty. But she was weak and +emotional. The baby behaved admirably, even when Lewis, trembling +with pride, held it out to Mr. Glynn for baptism and held it so +that the blood rushed to its head. "I baptize thee in the name of +the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." She was happy and the +tears were in her eyes. The divine blessing was upon her and her +house, and, after all, baby was a darling and her husband a kind, +manly soul. With the help of heaven she would prove herself their +good angel.</p> +<p>When they returned home there was a whistle of old silver of +light, graceful design, a present from Mrs. Taylor to Muriel. Her +aunt, Mrs. Farley, compared this to its disparagement with one +already purchased by Lewis, on the gaudily embossed stem of which +perched a squirrel with a nut in its mouth. But Selma shook her +head. "Both of you are wrong," she said with authority. "This is a +beauty."</p> +<p>"It doesn't look new to my eyes," protested Mrs. Parley.</p> +<p>"Of course it isn't new. I shouldn't wonder if she bought it +while travelling abroad in Europe. It's artistic, and—and I +shan't let baby destroy it."</p> +<p>Babcock glanced from one gift to the other quizzically. Then by +way of disposing of the subject he seized his daughter in his arms +and dandling her toward the ceiling cried, "If it's artistic things +we must have, this is the most artistic thing which I know of in +the wide world. Aren't you, little sugar-plum?"</p> +<p>Mrs. Farley, with motherly distrust of man, apprehensively +followed with her eyes and arms the gyrations of rise and fall; but +Selma, though she saw, pursued the current of her own thought which +prompted her to examine her wedding-ring. She was thinking that, +compared with Mrs. Taylor's, it was a cart wheel—a clumsy, +conspicuous band of metal, instead of a delicate hoop. She wondered +if Lewis would object to exchange it for another.</p> +<p>With the return of her strength, Selma took up again eagerly the +tenor of her former life, aiding and abetting Mrs. Earle in the +development of the Institute. The president was absorbed in +enlarging its scope by the enrollment of more members, and the +establishment of classes in a variety of topics—such as +literature, science, philosophy, current events, history, art, and +political economy. She aimed to construct a club which should be +social and educational in the broadest sense by mutual co-operation +and energy. Selma, in her eagerness to make the most of the +opportunities for culture offered, committed herself to two of the +new topic classes—"Italian and Grecian Art," and "The +Governments of Civilization," and as a consequence found some +difficulty in accommodating her baby's nursing hours to these +engagements. It was indeed a relief to her when the doctor +presently pronounced the supply of her breast-milk inadequate. She +was able to assuage Lewis' regret that Muriel should be brought up +by hand with the information that a large percentage of Benham and +American mothers were similarly barren and that bottle babies were +exceedingly healthy. She had gleaned the first fact from the +physician, the second from Mrs. Earle, and her own conclusion on +the subject was that a lack of milk was an indication of feminine +evolution from the status of the brute creation, a sign of +spiritual as opposed to animal quality. Selma found Mrs. Earle +sympathetic on this point, and also practical in her suggestions as +to the rearing of infants by artificial means, recommendations +concerning which were contained in one of her series of papers +entitled "Mother Lore."</p> +<p>The theory of the new classes was co-operation. That is, the +members successively, turn by turn, lectured on the topic, and all +were expected to study in the interim so as to be able to ask +questions and discuss the views of the lecturer. Concerning both +Italian and Grecian Art and the Governments of Civilization, Selma +knew that she had convictions in the abstract, but when she found +herself face to face with a specific lecture on each subject, it +occurred to her as wise to supplement her ideas by a little +preparation. The nucleus of a public library had been recently +established by Joel Flagg and placed at the disposal of Benham. +Here, by means of an encyclopædia and two hand-books, Selma +was able in three forenoons to compile a paper satisfactory to her +self-esteem on the dynasties of Europe and their inferiority to the +United States, but her other task was illumined for her by a happy +incident, the promise of Littleton to lend her books. Indeed he +seemed delightfully interested in both of her classes, which was +especially gratifying in view of the fact that Mrs. Taylor, who was +a member of the Institute, had combated the new programme on the +plea that they were attempting too much and that it would encourage +superficiality. But Littleton seemed appreciative of the value of +the undertaking, and he made his promise good forthwith by +forwarding to her a package of books on art, among them two volumes +of Ruskin. Selma, who had read quotations from Ruskin on one or two +occasions and believed herself an admirer of, and tolerably +familiar with, his writings, was thrilled. She promptly immersed +herself in "Stones of Venice" and "Seven Lamps of Architecture," +sitting up late at night to finish them. When she had read these +and the article in the encyclopædia under the head of Art, +she felt bursting with her subject and eager to air her knowledge +before the class. Her lecture was acknowledged to be the most +stirring and thorough of the course.</p> +<p>Reports of its success came back to her from Littleton, who +offered to assist his pupil further by practical demonstration of +the eternal architectural fitness and unfitness of +things—especially the latter—in walks through the +streets of Benham. But six times in as many months, however. There +was no suggestion of coquetry on either side in these excursions, +yet each enjoyed them. Littleton's own work was beginning to assume +definite form, and his visits to Benham became of necessity more +frequent; flying trips, but he generally managed to obtain a few +words with Selma. He continued to lend her books, and he invited +her criticism on the slowly growing church edifice. The +responsibility of critic was an absorbing sensation to her, but the +stark glibness of tongue which stood her in good stead before the +classes of the Institute failed her in his presence—the +presence of real knowledge. She wished to praise, but to praise +discriminatingly, with the cant of æsthetic appreciation, so +that he should believe that she knew. As for the church itself, she +was interested in it; it was fine, of course, but that was a +secondary consideration compared with her emotions. His +predilection in her favor, however, readily made him deaf in regard +to her utterances. He scarcely heeded her halting, solemn, +counterfeit transcendentalisms; or rather they passed muster as +subtle and genuine, so spell bound was he by the Delphic beauty of +her criticising expression. It was enough for him to watch her as +she stood with her head on one side and the worried archangel look +transfiguring her profile. What she said was lost in his reverie as +to what she was—what she represented in his contemplation. As +she looked upon his handiwork he was able to view it with different +eyes, to discern its weaknesses and to gain fresh inspiration from +her presence. He felt that it was growing on his hands and that he +should be proud of it, and though, perhaps, he was conscious in his +inner soul that she was more to him than another man's wife should +be, he knew too, that no word or look of his had offended against +the absent husband.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3> +<p>By the end of another six months Littleton's work was +practically completed. Only the finishing touches to the interior +decoration remained to be done. The members of Rev. Mr. Glynn's +congregation, including Mrs. Hallett Taylor, were thoroughly +satisfied with the appearance of the new church. It was attractive +in its lines, yet it was simple and, consequently, in keeping with +the resources of the treasury. There was no large bill for extras +to be audited, as possibly would have been the case had a +hard-headed designer like Mr. Pierce been employed. The committee +felt itself entitled to the congratulations of the community. Nor +was the community on the whole disposed to grumble, for home talent +had been employed by the architect; under rigorous supervision, to +be sure, so that poor material and slap-dash workmanship were out +of the question. Still, payments had been prompt, and Benham was +able to admire competent virtue. The church was a monument of +suggestion in various ways, artistic and ethical, and it shone +neatly with Babcock varnish.</p> +<p>One morning Selma set forth by agreement with Littleton, in +order to inspect some fresco work. Muriel Grace was ailing +slightly, but as she would be home by mid-day, she bade the hired +girl be watchful of baby, and kept her appointment. The child had +grown dear to her, for Muriel was a charming little dot, and Selma +had already begun to enjoy the maternal delight of human doll +dressing, an extravagance in which she was lavishly encouraged by +her husband. Babcock was glad of any excuse to spend money on his +daughter, who seemed to him, from day to day, a greater marvel of +precocity—such a child as became Selma's beauty and +cleverness and his own practical common-sense.</p> +<p>Selma was in a pensive frame of mind this morning. Two days +before she had read a paper at the Institute on "Motherhood," which +had been enthusiastically received. Mrs. Earle had printed a +flattering item concerning it in the <i>Benham Sentinel</i>. It was +agreeable to her to be going to meet Littleton, for he was the most +interesting masculine figure in her life. She was sure of Lewis. He +was her husband and she knew herself to be the apple of his eye; +but she knew exactly what he was going to say before he said it, +and much of what he said grated on her. She was almost equally sure +of Littleton; that is of his admiration. His companionship was a +constant pleasure to her. As a married woman, and as a Christian +and American woman, she desired no more than this. But on the other +hand, she would fain have this admiring companionship continue; and +yet it could not. Littleton had told her the day before that he was +going back to New York and that it was doubtful if he would return. +She would miss him. She would have the Institute and Mrs. Earle +still, but her life would be less full.</p> +<p>Littleton was waiting for her at the church entrance. She +followed him down the nave to the chancel where she listened +dreamily to his presentation of the merits of the new decoration. +He seemed inclined to talk, and from this presently branched off to +describe with enthusiasm the plates of a French book on interior +architecture, which he had recently bought as a long-resisted but +triumphant piece of extravagance. Mechanically, they turned from +the chancel and slowly made the round of the aisles. A short +silence succeeded his professional ardor. His current of thought, +in its reversion to home matters, had reminded him afresh of what +was perpetually this morning uppermost in his +consciousness—his coming departure.</p> +<p>"Now," he said, abruptly, "is the most favorable opportunity I +shall have, Mrs. Babcock, to tell you how much I am your debtor. I +shan't despair of our meeting again, for the world is small, and +good friends are sure to meet sooner or later. But the past is +secure to me at any rate. If this church is in some measure what I +have dreamed and wished it to be, if my work with all its faults is +a satisfaction to myself, I wish you to know how much you have +contributed to make it what it is."</p> +<p>The words were as a melody in Selma's ears, and she listened +greedily. Littleton paused, as one seriously moved will pause +before giving the details of an important announcement. She, +thinking he had finished, interjected with a touch of modesty, "I'm +so glad. But my suggestions and criticisms have not been what I +meant them to be. It was all new to me, you know."</p> +<p>"Oh, yes. It hasn't been so much what you have said in words +which has helped me, though that has been always intelligent and +uplifting. I did not look for technical knowledge. You do not +possess that, of course. There are women in New York who would be +able to confuse you with their familiarity with these things. And +yet it is by way of contrast with those very women—fine +women, too, in their way—that you have been my good angel. +There is no harm in saying that. I should be an ingrate, surely, if +I would not let you know that your sane, simple outlook upon life, +your independent vision, has kept my brain clear and my soul free. +I am a better artist and a better man for the experience. Good-by, +and may all happiness attend you. If once in a while you should +find time to write to a struggling architect named Littleton, he +will be charmed to do your bidding—to send you books and to +place his professional knowledge at your service. Good-by."</p> +<p>He held out his hand with frank effusion. He was obviously happy +at having given utterance to his sense of obligation. Selma was +tingling from head to foot and a womanly blush was on her cheek, +though the serious seraph spoke in her words and eyes. She felt +moved to a wave of unreserved speech.</p> +<p>"What you have said is very interesting to me. I wish to tell +you how much I, too, have enjoyed our friendship. The first time we +met I felt sure we should be sympathetic, and we have been, haven't +we? One of the fine things about friendships between men and women +in this country is that they can really get to know each other +without—er—harm to either. Isn't it? It's such a +pleasure to know people really, and I feel as if I had known you, +as if we had known each other really. I've never known any man +exactly in that way, and I have always wanted to. Except, of +course, my husband. And he's extremely different—that is, his +tastes are not like yours. It's a happiness to me to feel that I +have been of assistance to you in your work, and you have been +equally helpful to me in mine. As you say, I have never had the +opportunity to learn the technical parts of art, and your books +have instructed me as to that. I have never been in New York, but I +understand what you meant about your friends, those other women. I +suppose society people must be constantly diverted from serious +work—from the intellectual and spiritual life. Oh yes, we +ought to write. Our friendship mustn't languish. We must let each +other know what we are thinking and doing. Good-by."</p> +<p>As Selma walked along the street her heart was in her mouth. She +felt pity for herself. To just the right person she would have +confessed the discovery that she had made a mistake and tied +herself for life to the wrong man. It was not so much that she +fancied Littleton which distressed her, for, indeed, she was but +mildly conscious of infatuation. What disturbed her was the +contrast between him and Babcock, which definite separation now +forced upon her attention. An indefinable impression that Littleton +might think less of her if she were to state this soul truth had +restrained her at the last moment from disclosing the secret. Not +for an instant did she entertain the idea of being false to Lewis. +Her confession would have been but a dissertation on the inexorable +irony of fate, calling only for sympathy, and in no way derogating +from her dignity and self-respect as a wife. Still, she had +restrained herself, and stopped just short of the confidence. He +was gone, and she would probably not see him again for years. That +was endurable. Indeed, a recognition of the contrary would not have +seemed to her consistent with wifely virtue. What brought the tears +to her eyes was the vision of continued wedlock, until death +intervened, with a husband who could not understand. Could she bear +this? Must she endure it? There was but one answer: She must. At +the thought she bit her lip with the intensity and sternness of a +martyr. She would be faithful to her marriage vows, but she would +not let Lewis's low aims interfere with the free development of her +own life.</p> +<p>It was after noon when she reached home. She was met at the door +by the hired girl with the worried ejaculation that baby was +choking. The doctor was hastily summoned. He at once pronounced +that Muriel Grace had membranous croup, and was desperately ill. +Remedies of various sorts were tried, and a consulting physician +called, but when Babcock returned from his office her condition was +evidently hopeless. The child died in the early night. Selma was +relieved to hear the doctor tell her husband that it was a +malignant case from the first, and that nothing could have averted +the result. In response to questions from Lewis, however, she was +obliged to admit that she had not been at home when the acute +symptoms appeared. This afforded Babcock an outlet for his +suffering. He spoke to her roughly for the first time in his life, +bitterly suggesting neglect on her part.</p> +<p>"You knew she wasn't all right this morning, yet you had to go +fiddle-faddling with that architect instead of staying at home +where you belonged. And now she's dead. My little girl, my little +girl!" And the big man burst out sobbing.</p> +<p>Selma grew deadly pale. No one had ever spoken to her like that +before in her life. To the horror of her grief was added the +consciousness that she was being unjustly dealt with. Lewis had +heard the doctor's statement, and yet he dared address her in such +terms. As if the loss of the child did not fall equally on her.</p> +<p>"If it were to be done over again, I should do just the same," +she answered, with righteous quietness. "To all appearances she had +nothing but a little cold. You have no right to lay the blame on +me, her mother." At the last word she looked ready to cry, too.</p> +<p>Babcock regarded her like a miserable tame bull. "I didn't mean +to," he blubbered. "She's taken away from me, and I'm so wretched +that I don't know what I'm saying. I'm sorry, Selma."</p> +<p>He held out his arms to her. She was ready to go to them, for +the angel of death had entered her home and pierced her heart, +where it should be most tender. She loved her baby. Yet, when she +had time to think, she was not sure that she wished to have +another. When the bitterness of his grief had passed away, that was +the hope which Lewis ventured to express, at first in a whisper, +and later with reiterated boldness. Selma acquiesced externally, +but she had her own opinions. Certain things which were not +included in "Mother Lore," had been confided by Mrs. Margaret +Rodney Earle by word of mouth in the fulness of their mutual +soul-scourings, and had remained pigeon-holed for future reference +in Selma's inner consciousness. Another baby just at this time +meant interference with everything elevating. There was time +enough. In a year or two, when she had established herself more +securely in the social sphere of Benham, she would present her +husband with a second child. It was best for them both to wait, for +her success was his success; but it would be useless to try to make +that clear to him in his present mood.</p> +<p>So she put away her baby things, dropping tears over the little +socks and other reminders of her sorrow, and took up her life +again, keeping her own counsel. The sympathy offered her was an +interesting experience. Mrs. Earle came to her at once, and took +her to her bosom; Mrs. Taylor sent her flowers with a kind note, +which set Selma thinking whether she ought not to buy mourning +note-paper; and within a week she received a visit of condolence +from Mr. Glynn, rather a ghastly visit. Ghastly, because Lewis sat +through it all with red eyes, very much as though he were listening +to a touching exhortation in church. To be sure, he gripped the +pastor's hand like a vice, at the end, and thanked him for coming, +but his silent, afflicted presence had interfered with the free +interchange of thought which would have been possible had she been +alone with the clergyman. The subject of death, and the whole train +of reflections incident to it, were uppermost in her mind, and she +would have been glad to probe the mysteries of the subject by +controversial argument, instead of listening to hearty, sonorous +platitudes. She listened rather contemptuously, for she recognized +that Mr. Glynn was saying the stereotyped thing in the stereotyped +way, without realizing that it was nothing but sacerdotal pap, +little adapted to an intelligent soul. What was suited to Lewis was +not fit for her. And yet her baby's death had served to dissipate +somewhat the immediate discontent which she felt with her husband. +His strong grief had touched her in spite of herself, and, though +she blamed him still for his inconsiderate accusation, she was fond +of him as she might have been fond of some loving Newfoundland, +which, splendid in awkward bulk, caressed her and licked her hand. +It was pleasant enough to be in his arms, for the touch of +man—even the wrong man—was, at times, a comfort.</p> +<p>She took up again with determined interest her relations to the +Institute, joining additional classes and pursuing a variety of +topics of study, in regard to some of which she consulted +Littleton. She missed his presence less than she had expected, +especially after they had begun to correspond and were able to keep +in touch by letter. His letters were delightful. They served her in +her lecture courses, for they so clearly and concisely expressed +her views that she was able to use long extracts from them word for +word. And every now and then they contained a respectful allusion +which showed that he still retained a personal interest in her. So +the weeks slipped away and she was reasonably happy. She was +absorbed and there was nothing new to mar the tenor of her life, +though she was vaguely conscious that the loss of their little girl +had widened the breach between her and her husband—widened it +for the reason that now, for the first time, he perceived how +lonely he was. The baby had furnished him with constant delight and +preoccupation. He had looked forward all day to seeing it at night, +and questions relating to it had supplied a never-ceasing small +change of conversation between him and her. He had let her go her +way with a smile on his face. Selma did not choose to dwell on the +situation, but it was obvious that Lewis continued to look glum, +and that there were apt to be long silences between them at meals. +Now and again he would show some impatience at the continuous +recurrence of the Institute classes as a bar to some project of +domesticity or recreation, as though she had not been an active +member of the Institute before baby was born.</p> +<p>One of the plans in which Mrs. Earle was most interested was a +Congress of Women's Clubs, and in the early summer of the same +year—some four months subsequent to the death of Muriel +Grace—a small beginning toward this end was arranged to take +place in Chicago. There were to be six delegates from each club, +and Selma was unanimously selected as one of the delegation from +the Benham Women's Institute. The opinion was generally expressed +that a change would do her good, and there was no question that she +was admirably fitted to represent the club. Selma, who had not +travelled a hundred miles beyond Benham in her life, was elated at +the prospect of the expedition; so much so that she proudly +recounted to Lewis the same evening the news of her appointment. It +never occurred to her that he would wish to accompany her, and when +he presently informed her that he had been wishing to go to Chicago +on business for some time, and that the date proposed would suit +him admirably, she was dumfounded. Half of the interest of the +expedition would consist in travelling as an independent +delegation. A husband would be in the way and spoil the savor of +the occasion. It would never do, and so Selma proceeded to explain. +She wished to go alone.</p> +<p>"A pack of six women travel by themselves?" blurted Lewis. +"Suppose there were an accident?" he added, after searching his +brain for a less feeble argument.</p> +<p>"We should either be killed or we shouldn't be," said Selma +firmly. "We are perfectly well able to take care of ourselves. +Women travel alone everywhere every-day—that is, intelligent +American women."</p> +<p>Lewis looked a little sad. "I thought, perhaps, it would seem +nice for you to go with me, Selma. We haven't been off since we +were married, and I can get away now just as well as not."</p> +<p>"So it would have been if I weren't one of the delegation. I +should think you would see, Lewis, that your coming is out of the +question."</p> +<p>So it proved. Selma set forth for Chicago on the appointed day, +made many new acquaintances among the delegates, and was pleased to +be introduced and referred to publicly as Mrs. Selma +Babcock—a form of address to which she was unaccustomed at +Benham. On the night before her departure, being in pleasant +spirits, she told Lewis that her absence would do him good, and +that he would appreciate her all the more on her return.</p> +<p>She was to be gone a week. The first twenty-four hours passed +gloomily for Babcock. Then he began to take notice. He noticed that +the county fair was fixed for the following days. He had hoped to +carry Selma there, but, as she was not to be had, it seemed to him +sensible to get what enjoyment from it he could alone. Then it +happened that a former companion of his bachelor days and his +bachelor habits, a commercial traveller, whom he had not seen since +his marriage, appeared on the scene.</p> +<p>"The very man for me!" he ejaculated, jubilantly.</p> +<p>The obscurity of this remark was presently made clear to his +friend, who had hoped perhaps to enjoy a snug evening at Babcock's +domestic hearth, but who was not averse to playing a different +part—that of cheering up a father who had lost his baby, and +whose wife had left him in the lurch. He assured Babcock that a +regular old time outing—a shaking up—would do him good, +and Babcock was ready to agree with him, intending thereby a +free-handed two days at the fair. As has been intimated, his manner +of life before marriage had not been irreproachable, but he had +been glad of an opportunity to put an end to the mildly riotous and +coarse bouts which disfigured his otherwise commonplace existence. +He had no intention now of misbehaving himself, but he felt the +need of being enlivened. His companion was a man who delighted in +what he called a lark, and whose only method of insuring a lark was +by starting in with whiskey and keeping it up. That had been also +Babcock's former conception of a good time, and though he had dimly +in mind that he was now a husband and church-member, he strove to +conduct himself in such a manner as to maintain his self-respect +without becoming a spoil sport.</p> +<p>During the first day at the fair Babcock managed to preserve +this nice distinction. On the second, he lost account of his +conduct, and by the late afternoon was sauntering with his friend +among the booths in the company of two suspicions looking women. +With these same women the pair of revellers drove off in top +buggies just before dusk, and vanished in the direction of the open +country.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER VII.</h3> +<p>Babcock returned to his home twenty-four hours later like a +whipped cur. He was disgusted with himself. It seemed to him +incredible that he should have fallen so low. He had sinned against +his wife and his own self-respect without excuse; for it was no +excuse that he had let himself be led to drink too much. His heart +ached and his cheek burned at the recollection of his two days of +debauchery. What was to be done? If only he were able to cut this +ugly sore in his soul out with a knife and have done with it +forever! But that was impossible. It stared him in the face, a +haunting reality. In his distress he asked himself whether he would +not go to Mr. Glynn and make a clean breast of it; but his +practical instincts answered him that he would none the less have +made a beast of himself. He held his head between his hands, and +stared dejectedly at his desk. Some relief came to him at last only +from the reflection that it was a single fault, and that it need +never—it should never be repeated. Selma need not know, and +he would henceforth avoid all such temptations. Terrible as it was, +it was a slip, not a deliberate fault, and his love for his wife +was not in question.</p> +<p>Thus reasoning, he managed by the third day after his return to +reach a less despondent frame of mind. While busy writing in his +office a lady was announced, and looking up he encountered the +meretricious smile of the courtesan with whom he had forgotten +himself. She had taken a fancy to her victim, and having learned +that he was well to do, she had come in order to establish, if +possible, on a more permanent basis, her relations with him. She +was a young woman, who had been drifting from place to place, and +whose professional inclination for a protector was heightened by +the liking which she had conceived for him. Babcock recalled in her +smile merely his shame, and regarded her reappearance as +effrontery. He was blind to her prettiness and her sentimental +mood. He asked her roughly what she wanted, and rising from his +chair, he bade her be gone before she had time to answer. Nine out +of ten women of her class would have taken their dismissal lightly. +Some might have answered back in tones loud enough to enlighten the +clerks, and thus have accomplished a pretty revenge in the course +of retreat. This particular Lesbian was in no humor to be harshly +treated. She was a little desperate and Babcock had pleased her. It +piqued her to be treated in such a fashion; accordingly, she held +her ground and sat down. She tried upon him, alternately, irony and +pathos. He was angry but confused under the first, he became savage +and merciless under the second, throwing back in her teeth the +suggestion of her fondness, and stigmatizing her coarsely. Then she +became angry in her turn—angry as a woman whose proffered +love is spurned. The method for revenge was obvious, and she told +him plainly what she intended. His wife should know at once how her +husband passed his time during her absence. She had posted herself, +and she saw that her shaft hurt. Babcock winced, but mad and +incredulous, he threatened her with arrest and drove her from the +room. She went out smiling, but with an ominous look in her eyes, +the remembrance of which made him ask himself now and again if she +could be vicious enough, or fool enough, to keep her promise. He +dismissed the idea as improbable; still the bare chance worried +him. Selma was to arrive early the next morning, and he had +reconciled himself to the conclusion that she need never know, and +that he would henceforth be a faithful husband. Had he not given an +earnest of his good faith in his reception of his visitor? Surely, +no such untoward and unnatural accident would dash the cup of +returning happiness from his lips. A more clever man would have +gone straight to police headquarters, instead of trusting to +chance.</p> +<p>A night's rest reassured him as to the idleness of the threat, +so that he was able to welcome Selma at the railroad station with a +comparatively light heart. She was in high spirits over the success +of her expedition, and yet graciously ready to admit that she was +glad to return home—meaning thereby, to her own bed and +bathing facilities; but the general term seemed to poor Lewis a +declaration of wifely devotion. He went to his business with the +mien of a man who had passed through an ordeal and is beginning +life again; but when he returned at night, as soon as he beheld +Selma, he suspected what had happened.</p> +<p>She was awaiting him in the parlor. Though he saw at a glance +that she looked grave, he went forward to kiss her, but she rose +and, stepping behind the table, put out her hand forbiddingly.</p> +<p>"What is the matter?" he faltered.</p> +<p>"That woman has been here," was her slow, scornful response.</p> +<p>"Selma, I—" A confusing sense of hopelessness as to what +to say choked Babcock's attempt to articulate. There was a brief +silence, while he looked at her imploringly and miserably.</p> +<p>"Is it true what she says? Have you been false to your marriage +vows? Have you committed adultery?"</p> +<p>"My God! Selma, you don't understand."</p> +<p>"It is an easy question to answer, yes or no?"</p> +<p>"I forgot myself, Selma. I was drunk and crazy. I ask your +pardon."</p> +<p>She shook her head coldly. "I shall have nothing more to do with +you. I cannot live with you any longer."</p> +<p>"Not live with me?"</p> +<p>"Would you live with me if it were I who had forgotten +myself?"</p> +<p>"I think I would, Selma. You don't understand. I was a brute. I +have been wretched ever since. But it was a slip—an accident. +I drank too much, and it happened. I love you, Selma, with all my +heart. I have never been false to you in my affection."</p> +<p>"It is a strange time to talk of affection. I went away for a +week, and in my absence you insulted me by debauchery with a +creature like that. Love? You have no conception of the meaning of +the word. Oh no, I shall never live with you again."</p> +<p>Babcock clinched his palms in his distress and walked up and +down. She stood pale and determined looking into space. Presently +he turned to her and asked with quiet but intense solicitude, "You +don't mean that you're going to leave me for one fault, we being +husband and wife and the little girl in her grave? I said you don't +understand and you don't. A man's a man, and there are times when +he's been drinking when he's liable to yield to temptation, and +that though he's so fond of his wife that life without her would be +misery. This sounds strange to a woman, and it's a poor excuse. But +it ought to count, Selma, when it comes to a question of our +separating. There would be happy years before us yet if you give me +another chance."</p> +<p>"Not happy years for me," she replied concisely. "The American +woman does not choose to live with the sort of man you describe. +She demands from her husband what he demands from her, faithfulness +to the marriage tie. We could never be happy again. Our ideal of +life is different. I have made excuses for you in other things, but +my soul revolts at this."</p> +<p>Babcock looked at her for a moment in silence, then he said, a +little sternly, "You shouldn't have gone away and left me. I'm not +blaming you, but you shouldn't have gone." He walked to the window +but he saw nothing. His heart was racked. He had been eager to +humiliate himself before her to prove his deep contrition, but he +had come to the end of his resources, and yet she was adamant. Her +charge that she had been making excuses for him hitherto reminded +him that they had not been really sympathetic for some time past. +With his back turned to her he heard her answer:</p> +<p>"It was understood before I agreed to marry you that I was to be +free to follow my tastes and interests. It is a paltry excuse that, +because I left you alone for a week in pursuit of them, I am +accessory to your sin."</p> +<p>Babcock faced her sadly. "The sin's all mine," he said. "I can't +deny that. But, Selma, I guess I've been pretty lonely ever since +the baby died."</p> +<p>"Lonely?" she echoed. "Then my leaving you will not matter so +much. Here," she said, slipping off her wedding-ring, "this belongs +to you." She remembered Mrs. Earle's proceeding, and though she had +not yet decided what course to pursue in order to maintain her +liberty, she regarded this as the significant and definite act. She +held out the ring, but Babcock shook his head.</p> +<p>"The law doesn't work as quick as that, nor the church either. +You can get a divorce if you're set on it, Selma. But we're husband +and wife yet."</p> +<p>"Only the husk of our marriage is left. The spirit is dead," she +said sententiously. "I am going away. I cannot pass another night +in this house. If you will not take this ring, I shall leave it +here."</p> +<p>Babcock turned to hide the tears which blinded his eyes. Selma +regarded him a moment gravely, then she laid her wedding-ring on +the table and went from the room.</p> +<p>She put her immediate belongings into a bag and left the house. +She had decided to go to Mrs. Earle's lodgings where she would be +certain to find shelter and sympathy. Were she to go to her aunt's +she would be exposed to importunity on her husband's behalf from +Mrs. Farley, who was partial to Lewis. Her mind was entirely made +up that there could be no question of reconciliation. Her duty was +plain; and she would be doing herself an injustice were she to +continue to live with one so weak and regardless of the honor which +she had a right to demand of the man to whom she had given her +society and her body. His gross conduct had entitled her to her +liberty, and to neglect to seize it would be to condemn herself to +continuous unhappiness, for this overt act of his was merely a +definite proof of the lack of sympathy between them, of which she +had for some time been well aware at heart. As she walked along the +street she was conscious that it was a relief to her to be +sloughing off the garment of an uncongenial relationship and to be +starting life afresh. There was nothing in her immediate +surroundings from which she was not glad to escape. Their house was +full of blemishes from the stand-point of her later knowledge, and +she yearned to dissociate herself, once and for all, from the +trammels of her pitiful mistake. She barely entertained the thought +that she was without means. She would have to support herself, of +course, but it never occurred to her to doubt her ability to do so, +and the necessity added a zest to her decision. It would be plain +sailing, for Mrs. Earle had more than once invited her to send copy +to the <i>Benham Sentinel</i>, and there was no form of occupation +which would be more to her liking than newspaper work. It was +almost with the mien of a prisoner escaped from jail that she +walked in upon her friend and said:</p> +<p>"I have left my husband. He has been unfaithful to me."</p> +<p>In Mrs. Earle, conventional feminine instincts were apt, before +she had time to think, to get the upper hand of her set theories. +"You, poor, poor child," she cried extending her arms.</p> +<p>Selma had not intended to weep. Still the opportunity was +convenient, and her nerves were on edge. She found herself sobbing +with her head on Mrs. Earle's, bosom, and telling her sad +story.</p> +<p>"He was never good enough for you. I have always said so," Mrs. +Earle murmured stroking her hair.</p> +<p>"I ought to have known from the first that it was impossible for +us to be happy. Why did I ever marry him? He said he loved me, and +I let myself be badgered into it," Selma answered through her +tears. "Well, it's all over now," she added, sitting up and drying +her eyes. "He has given me back my liberty. I am a free woman."</p> +<p>"Yes, dear, if you are perfectly sure of yourself, there is only +one course to pursue. Only you should consider the matter solemnly. +Perhaps in a few days, after he has apologized and shown proper +contrition, you might feel willing to give him another chance."</p> +<p>Selma was unprepared for Mrs. Earle's sentimentality. "Surely," +she exclaimed with tragic earnestness, "you wouldn't have me live +with him after what occurred? Contrition? He said everything he +could think of to get me to stay, but I made my decision then and +there."</p> +<p>Mrs. Earle put her own handkerchief to her eyes. "Women have +forgiven such things; but I respect you all the more for not being +weak. I know how you feel. It is hard to do, but if I had it to do +over again, I would act just the same—just the same. It's a +serious responsibility to encourage any one to desert a home, but +under the circumstances I would not live with him another minute, +my child—not another minute." Thereupon Mrs. Earle protruded +her bosom to celebrate the triumph of justice in her own mental +processes over conventional and maudlin scruples. "You will apply +for a divorce, I suppose?"</p> +<p>"I have not considered that. All I care for is never to see him +again."</p> +<p>"Oh yes, you must get a divorce. It is much better, you know. In +my case I couldn't, for he did nothing public. A divorce settles +matters, and puts you back where you were before. You might wish +some day to marry again."</p> +<p>"I have had enough of marriage."</p> +<p>"It isn't any harm to be a free woman—free in the eye of +the law as well as of conscience. I know an excellent +lawyer—a Mr. Lyons, a sympathetic and able man. Besides your +husband is bound to support you. You must get alimony."</p> +<p>"I wouldn't touch a dollar of his money," Selma answered with +scorn. "I intend to support myself. I shall write—work."</p> +<p>"Of course you will, dear; and it will be a boon and a blessing +to me to have you in our ranks—one of the new army of +self-supporting, self-respecting women. I suppose you are right. I +have never had a sixpence. But your husband deserves to be +punished. Perhaps it is punishment enough to lose you."</p> +<p>"He will get over that. It is enough for me," she exclaimed, +ardently, after a dreamy pause, "that I am separated from him +forever—that I am free—free—free."</p> +<p>A night's sleep served to intensify Selma's determination, and +she awoke clearly of the opinion that a divorce was desirable. Why +remain fettered by a bare legal tie to one who was a husband only +in name? Accordingly, in company with Mrs. Earle, she visited the +office of James O. Lyons, and took the initiatory steps to dissolve +the marriage.</p> +<p>Mr. Lyons was a large, full-bodied man of thirty-five, with a +fat, cleanly-shaven, cherubic countenance, an aspect of candor, and +keen, solemn eyes. His manner was impressive and slightly +pontificial; his voice resonant and engaging. He knew when to joke +and when to be grave as an owl. He wore in every-day life a shiny, +black frock-coat, a standing collar, which yawned at the throat, +and a narrow, black tie. His general effect was that of a cross +between a parson and a shrewd Yankee—a happy suggestion of +righteous, plain, serious-mindedness, protected against the wiles +of human society—and able to protect others—by a canny +intelligence. For a young man he had already a considerable +clientage. A certain class of people, notably the hard-headed, +God-fearing, felt themselves safe in his hands. His magnetic yet +grave manner of conducting business pleased Benham, attracting also +both the distressed and the bilious portions of the community, and +the farmers from the surrounding country. As Mrs. Earle informed +Selma, he was in sympathy with all progressive and stimulating +ideas, and he already figured in the newspapers politically, and +before the courts as a friend of the masses, and a fluent advocate +of social reforms. His method of handling Selma's case was smooth. +To begin with, he was sympathetic within proper limits, giving her +tacitly to understand that, though as a man and brother, he +deplored the necessity of extreme measures, he recognized that she +had made up her mind, and that compromise was out of the question. +To put it concisely, his manner was grieved, but practical. He told +her that he would represent to Babcock the futility of contesting a +cause, which, on the evidence, must be hopeless, and that, in all +probability, the matter could be disposed of easily and without +publicity. He seemed to Selma a very sensible and capable man, and +it was agreeable to her to feel that he appreciated that, though +divorce in the abstract was deplorable, her experience justified +and called for the protection of the law.</p> +<p>In the meantime Babcock was very unhappy, and was casting about +for a method to induce his wife to return. He wrote to her a +pitiful letter, setting forth once more the sorry facts in the best +light which he could bring to bear on them, and implored her +forgiveness. He applied to her aunt, Mrs. Farley, and got her to +supplement his plea with her good-natured intervention. "There are +lots of men like that," she confided to Selma, "and he's a kind, +devoted creature." When this failed, he sought Rev. Mr. Glynn as a +last resort, and, after he had listened to a stern and fervid +rating from the clergyman on the lust of the flesh, he found his +pastor on his side. Mr. Glynn was opposed to divorce on general +ecclesiastical principles; moreover, he had been educated under the +law of England, by which a woman cannot obtain a divorce from her +husband for the cause of adultery unless it be coupled with +cruelty—a clever distinction between the sexes, which was +doubtless intended as a cloak for occasional lapses on the part of +man. It was plain to him, as a Christian and as a hearty soul, that +there had been an untoward accident—a bestial fault, a +soul-debasing carnal sin, but still an accident, and hence to be +forgiven by God and woman. It was his duty to interfere; and so, +having disciplined the husband, he essayed the more delicate matter +of propitiating the wife. And he essayed it without a thought of +failure.</p> +<p>"I'm afraid she's determined to leave me, and that there's not +much hope," said Babcock, despondently, as he gripped the +clergyman's hand in token of his gratitude.</p> +<p>"Nonsense, my man," asserted Mr. Glynn briskly. "All she needs +is an exhortation from me, and she will take you back."</p> +<p>Selma was opposed to divorce in theory. That is, she had +accepted on trust the traditional prejudice against it as she had +accepted Shakespeare and Boston. But theory stood for nothing in +her regard before the crying needs of her own experience. She had +not the least intention of living with her husband again. No one +could oblige her to do that. In addition, the law offered her a +formal escape from his control and name. Why not avail herself of +it? She recollected, besides, that her husband's church recognized +infidelity as a lawful ground of release from the so-called +sacrament of marriage. This had come into her mind as an additional +sanction to her own decision. But it had not contributed to that +decision. Consequently, when she was confronted in Mrs. Earle's +lodgings by the errand of Mr. Glynn, she felt that his coming was +superfluous. Still, she was glad of the opportunity to measure +ideas with him in a thorough interview free from interruption.</p> +<p>Mr. Glynn's confidence was based on his intention to appeal to +the ever womanly quality of pity. He expected to encounter some +resistance, for indisputably here was a woman whose sensibilities +had been justly and severely shocked—a woman of finer tissue +than her husband, as he had noted in other American couples. She +was entitled to her day in court—to a stubborn, righteous +respite of indignation. But he expected to carry the day in the +end, amid a rush of tears, with which his own might be mingled. He +trusted to what he regarded as the innate reluctance of the wife to +abandon the man she loved, and to the leaven of feminine Christian +charity.</p> +<p>As a conscientious hater of sin, he did not attempt to minimize +Babcock's act or the insult put upon her. That done, he was free to +intercede fervently for him and to extol the virtue and the +advisability of forgiveness. This plea, however cogent, was narrow, +and once stated admitted merely of duplication in the same form. It +was indeed no argument, merely an appeal, and, in proportion as it +failed to move the listener, became feeble. Selma listened to him +with a tense face, her hands clasped before her in the guise of an +interested and self-scrutinizing spirit. But she betrayed no sign +of yielding, or symptom of doubt. She shook her head once or twice +as he proceeded, and, when he paused, asked why she should return +to a man who had broken faith with her; asked it in such a genuine +tone of conviction that Dr. Glynn realized the weakness of his own +case, and became slightly nettled at the same time.</p> +<p>"True," he said, rather sternly, "your husband has committed a +hideous, carnal sin, but he is genuinely repentant. Do you wish to +ruin his life forever?"</p> +<p>"His life?" said Selma. "It would ruin my life to return to him. +I have other plans—plans which will bring me happiness. I +could never be happy with him."</p> +<p>The clergyman was baffled. Other plans! The words offended him, +and yet he could not dispute her right to do as she chose. Still he +saw fit to murmur: "He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he +that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."</p> +<p>Selma flushed. To be accused of acting contrary to Christian +precepts was painful and surprising to her. "Mr. Glynn," she said, +"I see you don't understand. My husband and I ought never to have +married. It has all been a dreadful mistake. We have not the same +tastes and interests. I am sorry for him, but I can never consent +to return to him. To do so would condemn us both to a life of +unhappiness. We were not intended for husband and wife, and it is +best—yes, more Christian—for us to separate. We +American women do not feel justified in letting a mistake ruin our +lives when there is a chance to escape."</p> +<p>Mr. Glynn regarded her in silence for a moment. He was +accustomed to convince, and he had not succeeded, which to a +clergyman is more annoying than to most men. Still what she said +made his plea seem doubtful wisdom.</p> +<p>"Then you do not love your husband?" he said.</p> +<p>"No," said Selma quietly, "I do not love him. It is best to be +frank with one's self—with you, in such a matter, isn't it? +So you see that what you ask is out of the question."</p> +<p>Mr. Glynn rose. Clearly his mission had failed, and there was +nothing more to be said. Being a just man, he hesitated to pass an +unkind judgment on this bright-faced, pensive woman. She was within +her moral rights, and he must be careful to keep within his. But he +went away bewildered and discomfited. Selma would have liked to +dismiss the subject and keep him longer. She would have been glad +to branch off on to other ethical topics and discuss them. She was +satisfied with the result of the interview, for she had vindicated +her position and spiked Lewis's last gun.</p> +<p>So, indeed, it proved. Mr. Glynn sent for Babcock and told him +the naked truth, that his wife's love for him was dead and +reconciliation impossible. He properly refrained from expressing +the doubt lurking in his own mind as to whether Selma had ever +loved her husband. Thus convinced of the hopelessness of his +predicament, Babcock agreed to Mr. Lyons's suggestion not to +contest the legal proceedings. The lawyer had been diligent, and +the necessary evidence—the testimony of the woman—was +secure. She was ready to carry her revenge to the end, hoping, +perhaps, that the victim of it would return to her when he had lost +his wife. Accordingly, a few weeks later, Selma was granted a +divorce nisi and the right to resume her maiden name. She had +decided, however, to retain the badge of marriage as a decorous +social prefix, and to call herself Mrs. Selma White.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3> +<p>The consciousness that she was dependent for the means of +support solely on her own exertions was a genuine pleasure to +Selma, and she applied herself with confidence and enthusiasm to +the problem of earning her livelihood. She had remained steadfast +to her decision to accept nothing from her husband except the legal +costs of the proceedings, though Mr. Lyons explained to her that +alimony was a natural and moral increment of divorce. Still, after +her refusal, he informed her as a man and a friend that he +respected and admired the independence of her action, which was an +agreeable tribute. She had fixed definitely on newspaper work as +the most inviting and congenial form of occupation. She believed +herself to be well fitted for it. It would afford her an immediate +income, and it would give her the opportunity which she craved for +giving public expression to her ideas and fixing attention on +herself. There was room for more than one Mrs. Earle in Benham, for +Benham was growing and wide-awake and on the alert for originality +of any kind—especially in the way of reportorial and +journalistic cleverness. Selma had no intention of becoming a +second Mrs. Earle. That is, she promised herself to follow, but not +to follow blindly; to imitate judiciously, but to improve on a +gradually diverging line of progress. This was mere generalization +as yet. It was an agreeable seething brain consciousness for future +development. For the moment, however, she counted on Mrs. Earle to +obtain for her a start by personal influence at the office of the +<i>Benham Sentinel</i>. This was provided forthwith in the form of +an invitation to prepare a weekly column under the caption of "What +Women Wear;" a summary of passing usages in clothes. The woman +reporter in charge of it had just died. Selma's first impulse was +to decline the work as unworthy of her abilities, yet she was in +immediate need of employment to avoid running in debt and she was +assured by Mrs. Earle that she would be very foolish to reject such +an offer. Reflection caused her to think more highly of the work +itself. It would afford her a chance to explain to the women of +Benham, and indirectly to the country at large, that taste in dress +was not necessarily inconsistent with virtue and serious +intentions—a truth of which she herself had become possessed +since her marriage and which it seemed to her might be utilized +delightfully in her department. She would endeavor to treat dress +from the standpoint of ethical responsibility to society, and to +show that both extravagance and dowdy homeliness were to be +avoided. Clothes in themselves had grown to be a satisfaction to +her, and any association of vanity would be eliminated by the +introduction of a serious artistic purpose into a weekly commentary +concerning them. Accordingly she accepted the position and entered +upon its duties with grave zeal.</p> +<p>For each of these contributions Selma was to receive eight +dollars—four hundred a year, which she hoped to expand to a +thousand by creative literary production—preferably essays +and poetry. She hired a room in the same neighborhood as Mrs. +Earle, in the boarding-house district appurtenant to Central +Avenue—that is to say, on the ragged edge of Benham's social +artery, and set up her new household gods. The interest of +preparing the first paper absorbed her to the exclusion of +everything else. She visited all the dress-making and dry-goods +establishments in town, examined, at a hint from Mrs. Earle, the +fashion departments of the New York papers, and then, pen in hand, +gave herself up to her subject. The result seemed to her a happy +blending of timely philosophy and suggestions as to toilette, and +she took it in person to the editor. He saw fit to read it on the +spot. His brow wrinkled at first and he looked dubious. He re-read +it and said with some gusto, "It's a novelty, but I guess they'll +like it. Our women readers have been used to fashion notes which +are crisp and to the point, and the big houses expect to have +attention called to the goods they wish to sell. If you'll run over +this again and set your cold facts in little paragraphs by +themselves every now and then, I shouldn't wonder if the rest were +a sort of lecture course which will catch them. It's a good idea. +Next time you could work in a pathetic story—some references +to a dead baby—verses—anecdotes—a little variety. +You perceive the idea?"</p> +<p>"Oh, yes," said Selma, appropriately sober at the allusion yet +ecstatic. "That's just what I should like to do. It would give me +more scope. I wish my articles to be of real use—to help +people to live better, and to dress better."</p> +<p>"That's right, that's right; and if they make the paper sell, +we'll know that folks like them," responded the editor with Delphic +urbanity.</p> +<p>The first article was a success. That is, Selma's method was not +interfered with, and she had the satisfaction of reading in the +<i>Sentinel</i> during the week an item calling gratified attention +to the change in its "What Women Wear" column, and indicating that +it would contain new features from week to week. It gave her a +pleasant thrill to see her name, "Selma White," signed at the end +of the printed column, and she set to work eagerly to carry out the +editor's suggestions. At the same time she tried her hand at a +short story—the story of an American girl who went to Paris +to study art, refused to alter her mode of life to suit foreign +ideas of female propriety, displayed exceptional talent as an +artist, and finally married a fine-spirited young American, to the +utter discomfiture of a French member of the nobility, who had +begun by insulting her and ended with making her an offer of +marriage. This she sent to the <i>Eagle</i>, the other Benham +newspaper, for its Sunday edition.</p> +<p>It took her a month to compose this story, and after a week she +received it back with a memorandum to the effect that it was +one-half too long, but intimating that in a revised form it would +be acceptable. This was a little depressing, especially as it +arrived at a time when the novelty of her occupation had worn off +and she was realizing the limitations of her present life. She had +begun to miss the advantages of a free purse and the importance of +a domestic establishment. She possessed her liberty, and was +fulfilling her mission as a social force, but her life had been +deprived of some of its savor, and, though she was thankful to be +rid of Babcock, she felt the lack of an element of personal +devotion to herself, an element which was not to be supplied by +mere admiration on the part of Mrs. Earle and the other members of +the Institute. It did not suit her not to be able to gratify her +growing taste in clothes and in other lines of expenditure, and +there were moments when she experienced the need of being petted +and made much of by a man. She was conscious of loneliness, and in +this mood she pitied herself as a victim of untoward circumstances, +one who had wasted the freshness of her young life, and missed the +happiness which the American wife is apt to find waiting for her. +Under the spell of this nostalgia she wrote a poem entitled "The +Bitter Sweets of Solitude," and disposed of it for five dollars to +the <i>Sentinel</i>. The price shocked her, for the verses seemed +flesh of her flesh. Still, five dollars was better than nothing, +and she discerned from the manner of the newspaper editor that he +cared little whether she left them or not. It was on that evening +that she received a letter from Littleton, stating that he was on +the eve of leaving New York for Benham. He was coming to consult +concerning certain further interior decorations which the committee +had decided to add to the church.</p> +<p>Selma's nerves vibrated blissfully as she read the news. For +some reason, which she had never seen fit definitely to define, she +had chosen not to acquaint Littleton with the fact of her divorce. +Their letters had been infrequent during the last six months, for +this visit had been impending, having been put off from time to +time because the committee had been dilatory and he otherwise +engaged. Perhaps her secret motive had been to surprise him, to let +him find himself confronted with an accomplished fact, which would +obviate argument and reveal her established in her new career, a +happy, independent citizen, without ties. At any rate she smiled +now at the address on the envelope—Mrs. Lewis Babcock. +Obviously he was still in the dark as to the truth, and it would be +her privilege to enlighten him. She began to wonder what would be +the upshot of his coming, and tears came to her eyes, tears of +self-congratulation that the narrow tenor of her daily life was to +be irradiated by a sympathetic spirit.</p> +<p>When Littleton duly appeared at the committee meeting on the +following day, Selma saw at a glance that he was unaware of what +had happened. He looked slightly puzzled when one of the members +addressed her as Mrs. White, but evidently he regarded this as a +slip of the tongue. Selma looked, as she felt, contented and +vivacious. She had dressed herself simply, but with effective +trigness. To those who knew her experience, her appearance +indicated courage and becoming self-respect. Public opinion, even +as embodied in the church committee, while deploring the necessity, +was not disposed to question the propriety of her action. That is, +all except Mrs. Taylor. In her, Selma thought she had detected +signs of coldness, a sort of suspicious reservation of judgment, +which contrasted itself unpleasantly with the sympathetic attitude +of the others, who were fain to refer to her, in not altogether +muffled whispers, as a plucky, independent, little woman. Hence, +she was glad that Mrs. Taylor happened to be detained at home by +illness on this afternoon, and that, accordingly, she was free to +enjoy unreservedly the dramatic nature of the situation. Her heart +beat a little faster as the chairman, turning to her to ask a +question, addressed her unmistakably as Mrs. White. She could not +refrain from casting half-amused, half-pathetic sheep's eyes at +Littleton. He started visibly, regarded her for, a moment in +obvious amazement, then flushed to the roots of his hair. She felt +the blood rising to her own cheeks, and a sensation of mild +triumph. The meeting was over and the members were merely lingering +to tie up the loose threads of the matter arranged for. In a few +moments Selma found herself with the architect sufficiently apart +from the others for him to ask:</p> +<p>"Two persons have addressed you this afternoon as Mrs. White. I +do not understand."</p> +<p>She cast down her eyes, as a woman will when a question of +modesty is involved, then she raised them and said: "You did not +know, then, that I had left my husband?"</p> +<p>"Left him?"</p> +<p>"Yes. I have obtained a divorce. He was unfaithful to me."</p> +<p>"I see"—said Littleton with a sort of gasp—"I see. I +did not know. You never wrote to me."</p> +<p>"I did not feel like writing to any body. There was nothing to +be done but that."</p> +<p>Littleton regarded her with a perturbed, restless air.</p> +<p>"Then you live no longer at 25 Onslow Avenue?"</p> +<p>"Oh, no. I left there more than six months ago. I live in +lodgings. I am supporting myself by literary work. I am Mrs. Selma +White now, and my divorce has been absolute more than a month."</p> +<p>She spoke gravely and quietly, with less than her usual +assurance, for she felt the spell of his keen, eager scrutiny and +was not averse to yield at the moment to the propensity of her sex. +She wondered what he was thinking about. Did he blame her? Did he +sympathize with her?</p> +<p>"Where are you going when you leave here?" he asked.</p> +<p>"Home—to my new home. Will you walk along with me?"</p> +<p>"That is what I should like. I am astonished by what you have +told me, and am anxious to hear more about it, if to speak of it +would not wound you. Divorced! How you must have suffered! And I +did not have the chance to offer you my help—my +sympathy."</p> +<p>"Yes, I have suffered. But that is all over now. I am a free +woman. I am beginning my life over again."</p> +<p>It was a beautiful afternoon, and by mutual consent, which +neither put into words, they diverged from the exact route to +Selma's lodging house and turned their steps to the open country +beyond the city limits—the picturesque dell which has since +become the site of Benham's public park. There they seated +themselves where they would not be interrupted. Selma told him on +the way the few vital facts in her painful story, to which he +listened in a tense silence, broken chiefly by an occasional +ejaculation expressive of his contempt for the man who had brought +such unhappiness upon her. She let him understand, too, that her +married life, from the first, had been far less happy than he had +imagined—wretched makeshift for the true relation of husband +and wife. She spoke of her future buoyantly, yet with a touch of +sadness, as though to indicate that she was aware that the triumphs +of intelligence and individuality could not entirely be a +substitute for a happy home.</p> +<p>"And what do you expect to do?" he inquired in a bewildered +fashion, as though her delineation of her hopes had been lost on +him.</p> +<p>"Do? Support myself by my own exertions, as I have told you. By +writing I expect. I am doing very well already. Do you question my +ability to continue?"</p> +<p>"Oh, no; not that. Only—"</p> +<p>"Only what? Surely you are not one of the men who grudge women +the chance to prove what is in them—who would treat us like +china dolls and circumscribe us by conventions? I know you are not, +because I have heard you inveigh against that very sort of narrow +mindedness. Only what?"</p> +<p>"I can't make up my mind to it. And I suppose the reason is that +it means so much to me—that you mean so much to me. What is +the use of my dodging the truth, Selma—seeking to conceal it +because such a short time has elapsed since you ceased to be a +wife? Forgive me if I hurt you, if it seem indelicate to speak of +love at the very moment when you are happy in your liberty. I can't +help it; it's my nature to speak openly. And there's no bar now. +The fact that you are free makes clear to me what I have not dared +to countenance before, that you are the one woman in the world for +me—the woman I have dreamed of—and longed to +meet—the woman whose influence has blessed me already, and +without whom I shall lack the greatest happiness which life can +give. Selma, I love you—I adore you."</p> +<p>Selma listened with greedy ears, which she could scarcely +believe. It seemed to her that she was in dream-land, so +unexpected, yet entrancing, was his avowal. She had been vaguely +aware that he admired her more than he had allowed himself to +disclose, and conscious, too, that his presence was agreeable to +her; but in an instant now she recognized that this was +love—the love she had sought, the love she had yearned to +inspire and to feel. Compared with it, Babcock's clumsy ecstasy and +her own sufferance of it had been a sham and a delusion. Of so much +she was conscious in a twinkling, and yet what she deemed proper +self-respect restrained her from casting herself into his arms. It +was, indeed, soon, and she had been happy in her liberty. At least, +she had supposed herself so; and she owed it to her own plans and +hopes not to act hastily, though she knew what she intended to do. +She had been lonely, yes starving, for lack of true companionship, +and here was the soul which would be a true mate to hers.</p> +<p>They were sitting on a grassy bank. He was bending toward her +with clasped hands, a picture of fervor. She could see him out of +the corner of her glance, though she looked into space with her +gaze of seraphic worry. Yet her lips were ready to lend themselves +to a smile of blissful satisfaction and her eyes to fill with the +melting mood of the thought that at last happiness had come to +her.</p> +<p>The silence was very brief, but Littleton, as would have seemed +fitting to her, feared lest she were shocked.</p> +<p>"I distress you," he said. "Forgive me. Listen—will you +listen?" Selma was glad to listen. The words of love, such love as +this, were delicious, and she felt she owed it to herself not to be +won too easily. "I am listening," she answered softly with the +voice of one face to face with an array of doubts.</p> +<p>"Before I met you, Selma, woman but was a name to me. My life +brought me little into contact with them, except my dear sister, +and I had no temptation to regret that I could not support a wife. +Yet I dreamed of woman and of love and of a joy which might some +day come to me if I could meet one who fulfilled my ideal of what a +true woman should be. So I dreamed until I met you. The first time +I saw you, Selma, I knew in my heart that you were a woman whom I +could love. Perhaps I should have recognized more clearly as time +went on that you were more to me even then than I had a right to +allow; yet I call heaven to witness that I did not, by word or +sign, do a wrong to him who has done such a cruel wrong to +you."</p> +<p>"Never by word or sign," echoed Selma solemnly. The bare +suggestion that Babcock had cause to complain of either of them +seemed to her preposterous. Yet she was saying to herself that it +was easy to perceive that he had loved her from the first.</p> +<p>"And since I love you with all my soul must I—should I in +justice to myself—to my own hopes of happiness, refrain from +speaking merely because you have so recently been divorced? I must +speak—I am speaking. It is too soon, I dare say, for you to +be willing to think of marriage again—but I offer you the +love and protection of a husband. My means are small, but I am able +now to support a wife in decent comfort. Selma, give me some hope. +Tell me, that in time you may be willing to trust yourself to my +love. You wish to work—to distinguish yourself. Would I be a +hindrance to that? Indeed, you must know that I would do every +thing in my power to promote your desire to be of service to the +world."</p> +<p>The time for her smile and her tears had come. He had argued his +case and her own, and it was clear to her mind that delay would be +futile. Since happiness was at hand, why not grasp it? As for her +work, he need not interfere with that. And, after all, now that she +had tried it, was she so sure that newspaper work—hack work, +such as she was pursuing, was what she wished? As a wife, +re-established in the security of a home, she could pick and choose +her method of expression. Perhaps, indeed, it would not be writing, +except occasionally. Was not New York a wide, fruitful field, for a +reforming social influence? She saw herself in her mind's eye a +leader of movements and of progress. And that with a man she +loved—yes, adored even as he adored her.</p> +<p>So she turned to Littleton with her smile and in tears—the +image of bewitching but pathetic self-justification and surrender. +Her mind was made up; hence why procrastinate and coyly postpone +the desirable, and the inevitable? That was what she had the +shrewdness to formulate in the ecstasy of her transport; and so +eloquent was the mute revelation of her love that Littleton, +diffident reverencer of the modesty of woman as he was, without a +word from her clasped her to his breast, a victor in a breath. As, +regardless of the possible invasion of interlopers, he took her in +his embrace, she felt with satisfaction once more the grasp of +masculine arms. She let her head fall on his shoulder in delighted +contentment. While he murmured in succession inarticulate terms of +endearment, she revelled in the thrill of her nerves and approved +her own sagacious and commendable behavior.</p> +<p>"Dearest," she whispered, "you are right. We are right. Since we +love each other, why should we not say so? I love you—I love +you. The ugly hateful past shall not keep us apart longer. You say +you loved me from the first; so did I love you, though I did not +know it then. We were meant for each other—God meant +us—did he not? It is right, and we shall be so happy, +Wilbur."</p> +<p>"Yes, Selma." Words seemed to him an inadequate means for +expressing his emotions. He pressed his lips upon hers with the +adoring respect of a worshipper touching his god, yet with the +energy of a man. She sighed and compared him in her thought with +Babcock. How gentle this new lover! How refined and sensitive and +appreciative! How intelligent and gentlemanly!</p> +<p>"If I had my wish, darling," he said, "we should be married +to-night and I would carry you away from here forever."</p> +<p>She remembered that Babcock had uttered the same wish on the +occasion when he had offered himself. To grant it then had been out +of the question. To do so now would be convenient—a prompt +and satisfactory blotting out of her past and present life—a +happy method of solving many minor problems of ways and means +connected with waiting to be married. Besides it would be romantic, +and a delicious, fitting crowning of her present blissful mood.</p> +<p>He mistook her silence for womanly scruples, and he recounted +with a little laugh the predicament in which he should find himself +on his own account were they to be so precipitate. "What would my +sister think if she were to get a telegram—'Married to-night. +Expect us to-morrow?' She would think I had lost my senses. So I +have, darling; and you are the cause. She knows about you. I have +talked to her about you."</p> +<p>"But she thinks I am Mrs. Babcock."</p> +<p>"Oh yes. Ha! ha! It would never do to state to whom I was +married, unless I sent a telegram as long as my arm. Dear Pauline! +She will be radiant. It is all arranged that she is to stay where +she is in the old quarters, and I am to take you to a new house. +We've decided on that, time and again, when we've chanced to talk +of what might happen—of 'the fair, the chaste and +unexpressive she'—my she. Dearest, I wondered if I should +ever find her. Pauline has always said that she would never run the +risk of spoiling everything by living with us."</p> +<p>"It would be very nice—and very simple," responded Selma, +slowly. "You wouldn't think any the worse of me, Wilbur, if I were +to marry you to-night?"</p> +<p>"The worse of you? It is what I would like of all things. Whom +does it concern but us? Why should we wait in order to make a +public spectacle of ourselves?"</p> +<p>"I shouldn't wish that. I should insist on being married very +quietly. Under all the circumstances there is really no +reason—it seems to me it would be easier if we were to be +married as soon as possible. It would avoid explanations and talk, +wouldn't it? That is, if you are perfectly sure."</p> +<p>"Sure? That I love you? Oh Selma!"</p> +<p>She shut her eyes under the thrill which his kiss gave her. +"Then we will be married whenever you wish," she said.</p> +<p>It was already late in the afternoon, so that the prospects of +obtaining a license did not seem favorable. Still it happened that +Littleton knew a clergyman of his own +faith—Unitarian—in Benham, a college classmate, whom he +suggested as soon as he understood that Selma preferred not to be +married by Mr. Glynn. They found him at home, and by diligent +personal effort on his part the necessary legal forms were complied +with and they were made husband and wife three hours before the +departure of the evening train for New York. After the ceremony +they stepped buoyantly, arm in arm in the dusk, along the street to +send the telegram to Miss Littleton, and to snatch a hasty meal +before Selma went to her lodgings to pack. There were others in the +restaurant, so having discovered that they were not hungry, they +bought sandwiches and bananas, and resumed their travels. The +suddenness and surprise of it all made Selma feel as if on wings. +It seemed to her to be of the essence of new and exquisite romance +to be walking at the side of her fond, clever lover in the +democratic simplicity of two paper bags of provender and an open, +yet almost headlong marriage. She felt that at last she was yoked +to a spirit who comprehended her and who would stimulate instead of +repress the fire of originality within her. She had found love and +she was happy. Meanwhile she had decided to leave Benham without a +word to anyone, even Mrs. Earle. She would write and explain what +had happened.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="BOOK_II" id="BOOK_II"></a><i>BOOK II.</i></h2> +<h2>THE STRUGGLE</h2> +<h3>CHAPTER I.</h3> +<p>Littleton had not expected that Selma would accede to his +request to be married at once, but he was delighted at her +decision. He had uttered his wish in sincerity, for there was +really no reason for waiting, and by an immediate marriage they +would escape the tedium of an engagement during which they could +hope to see each other but rarely. He was able to support a wife +provided they were to live simply and economically. He felt sure +that Selma understood his circumstances and was no less ready than +he to forego luxuries in order that they might be all in all to +each other spiritually as husband and wife. Besides he had hopes +that his clientage would continue to grow so that he would be able +to provide all reasonable comforts for his new home. Consequently +he drove up from the station in New York with a light heart, fondly +pointing out to his wife this and that building and other objects +of interest. He mistook her pensive silence for diffidence at the +idea of descending suddenly on another woman's home—a matter +which in this instance gave him no concern, for he had unlimited +confidence in Pauline's executive ability and her tendency not to +get ruffled. She had been his good angel, domestically speaking, +and, indeed, in every way, since they had first begun to keep house +together, and it had rather amused him to let fall such a bombshell +as the contents of his telegram upon the regularity of her daily +life.</p> +<p>"Don't be nervous, darling," he said gayly. "You will find +Pauline bubbling over with joy at our coming, and everything +arranged as though we were expected to live there all our +lives."</p> +<p>Selma looked at him blankly and then remembered. She was not +feeling nervous, and Pauline was not in her thoughts. She had been +lost in her own reflections—lost in the happy consciousness +of the contrast between her new and her old husband, and in the +increasing satisfaction that she was actually in New York. How +bright and busy the streets looked! The throng of eager passers and +jostling vehicles against the background of brilliant shop-windows +bewildered and stimulated her. She was saying to herself that here +was the place where she was suited to live, and mutely +acknowledging its superiority to Benham as a centre of life. This +was a rash, swift conclusion, but Selma prided herself on her +capacity to arrive at wise judgments by rapid mental processes. So +absorbed was she in the glittering, stirring panorama that Wilbur's +efforts at enlightenment were practically wasted. She was in no +humor for details; she was glorying in the exalted impression which +the whole vivid scene produced upon her.</p> +<p>His remark caused her to realize that they must be near their +destination. She had no misgivings on the score of her own +reception, but she was interested and curious to see Pauline, this +wonderful sister of whom Wilbur was so fond and so proud. Then her +husband cried, "Here we are!" and in another moment she found +herself in the hearty embrace of a large, comely woman who met her +at the door. This of course must be Pauline. Selma was just a +little shocked by the fervor of the greeting; for though she +delighted in rapid intimacies, unexpected liberties with her person +were contrary to her conceptions of propriety. Still it was +delightful to be welcomed so heartily. She returned the embrace +warmly but with dignity, and allowed herself to be convoyed into +the house arm in arm with her new relation who seemed, indeed, to +be bubbling over with joy. It was not until they were in the same +room that Selma could get a good look at her.</p> +<p>Pauline Littleton was fine looking rather than pretty. She was +tall and substantial, with an agreeable face, an intelligent brow, +a firm yet sweet mouth, and steady, honest eyes which now sparkled +with pleasure. Her physique was very different from her brother's. +Selma noticed that she was taller than herself and only a little +shorter than Wilbur. She had Wilbur's smile too, suggesting a +disposition to take things humorously; but her expression lacked +the poetic cast which made him so attractive and congenial to +herself and excused the existence of the lighter vein. Selma did +not admire women who were inclined to be stout. She associated +spareness of person with high thinking, and an abundance of flesh +as an indication of material or commonplace aims. She reflected +that Pauline was presumably business-like and a good house-keeper, +and, very likely, an industrious teacher in her classes, but she +set her down in her mind as deficient in the finer sensibilities of +the spirit belonging to herself and Wilbur. It was instinctive with +Selma to form a prompt estimate of every one she met, and it was a +relief to her to come to the agreeable conclusion that there was +nothing in her sister-in-law's appearance to make her discontented +with herself. This warmed her heart at once toward Pauline. To be +sure Pauline manifested the same sort of social grace which +distinguished Mrs. Hallett Taylor, but Selma, though she still +regarded this with suspicion, for the reason that she had not yet +become mistress of it, was secretly content to know that she had +married into a family which possessed it. Altogether she was +agreeably impressed by her scrutiny of her new sister, who, in her +opinion, would not be an irritating rival either in looks or +character, and yet who was a pleasing and sufficiently +serious-minded person—in short just the sort of sister-in-law +which she yearned to have.</p> +<p>Pauline, on her part, was duly fascinated by the delicate and +inspiring beauty of her brother's wife. She understood at once why +Wilbur had chosen her in preference to any one of his own circle. +Selma obviously symbolized by her grave, tense, thin face the +serious ideals of living and womanhood, which had been dear to his +meditation as a youth and a part of his heritage from his New +England ancestors. It made her joyous to feel that he had found a +wife who would be a constant source of inspiration to him, for she +knew that Wilbur would not be happy with any one who fell short of +his ideal as to what a woman should be. She knew her brother well, +and she understood how deeply in earnest he was to make the most of +his life, and what an exalted vision he entertained as to the +possibilities for mutual sympathy and help between husband and +wife.</p> +<p>Partly as a consequence of their limited means, partly owing to +absorption in their respective studies and interests, the +Littletons, though of gentle stock, lived simple lives according to +New York standards. They were aware of the growth of luxury +resulting from the accumulation of big fortunes since the war. As +an architect, Wilbur saw larger and more elaborate public and +private buildings being erected on every side. As a house-keeper +and a woman with social interests, Pauline knew that the power of +money was revolutionizing the public taste in the matter of +household expenditure; that in the details of domestic life there +was more color and more circumstance, and that people who were +well-to-do, and many who were not, were requiring as daily comforts +all sorts of things to which they had been unaccustomed. But though +they both thus knew vaguely that the temper of society had changed, +and that sober citizens and their wives, who, twenty years before, +would have prated solemnly against a host of gay, enlivening or +pretty customs as incompatible with American virtue, were now +adopting these as rapidly as money could procure them—the +brother and sister had remained comparatively unaffected by the +consequences of the transformation scene. Certainly their home had. +It was old-fashioned in its garniture and its gentility. It spoke +of a day, not so many years before, when high thinking had led to +blinking where domestic decoration was concerned, and people had +bought ugly wooden and worsted things to live with because only the +things of the spirit seemed of real importance. Still time, with +its marvellous touch, has often the gift of making furniture and +upholstery, which were hideous when bought, look interesting and +cosey when they have become old-fashioned. In this way Pauline +Wilbur's parlor was a delightful relic of a day gone by. There was +scarcely a pretty thing in it, as Wilbur himself well knew, yet, as +a whole, it had an atmosphere—an atmosphere of simple +unaffected refinement. Their domestic belongings had come to them +from their parents, and they had never had the means to replenish +them. When, in due time, they had realized their artistic +worthlessness, they had held to them through affection, humorously +conscious of the incongruity that two such modern individuals as +themselves should be living in a domestic museum. Then, presto! +friends had begun to congratulate them on the uniqueness of their +establishment, and to express affection for it. It had become a +favorite resort for many modern spirits—artists, literary +men, musicians, self-supporting women—and Pauline's oyster +suppers, cooked in her grandmother's blazer, were still a stimulus +to high thinking.</p> +<p>So matters stood when Selma entered it as a bride. Her coming +signified the breaking up of the household and the establishment. +Pauline had thought that out in her clear brain over night since +receiving Wilbur's telegram. Wilbur must move into a modern house, +and she into a modern flat. She would keep the very old things, +such as the blazer and some andirons and a pair of candlesticks, +for they were ancient enough to be really artistic, but the +furniture of the immediate past, her father and mother's +generation, should be sold at auction. Wilbur and she must, if only +for Selma's sake, become modern in material matters as well as in +their mental interests.</p> +<p>Pauline proceeded to unfold this at the dinner-table that +evening. She had heard in the meanwhile from her brother, the story +of Selma's divorce and the explanation of his sudden marriage; and +in consequence, she felt the more solicitous that her +sister-in-law's new venture should begin propitiously. It was +agreed that Wilbur should make inquiries at once about houses +further uptown, and that his present lease from year to year should +not be renewed. She said to Selma:</p> +<p>"You have saved us from becoming an old-fashioned bachelor and +maid. Our friends began to leave this neighborhood five years ago, +and there is no one left. We are surrounded by boarding-houses and +shops. We were comfortable, and we were too busy to care. But it +would never do for a young married couple to begin house-keeping +here. You must have a brand new house uptown, Selma. You must +insist on that. Don't be alarmed, Wilbur. I know it will have to be +small, but I noticed the other day several blocks of new houses +going up on the side streets west of the Park, which looked +attractive and cheap."</p> +<p>"I will look at them," said Wilbur. "Since you seem determined +not to live with us, and we are obliged to move, we will follow the +procession. But Selma and I could be happy anywhere." He turned +from his sister to her as he spoke with a proud, happy look.</p> +<p>Selma said nothing to mar his confidence. She had no intention +of living either with Pauline or in their present house, and she +felt that her sister-in-law had shown good sense in recognizing +that neither was possible. She necessarily had vague ideas as to +New York houses and locations, but she had seen enough in her drive +from the station to understand that it was a wonderful and +decorative place. Although her experience of Benham had taught her +that some old things—such as Mrs. Hallett Taylor's gleanings +from Europe—were desirable, she associated new things with +progress—especially American progress. Consequently the +Littleton household possessions had puzzled her, for though she +thought them ugly, she was resolved not to commit herself too +hastily. But now that Pauline had sounded a note of warning, the +situation was clear. They had suffered themselves to fall behind +the times, and she was to be her husband's good angel by helping +him to catch up with them. And it was evident that Pauline would be +her ally. Selma for the first time asked herself whether it might +be that Wilbur was a little visionary.</p> +<p>Meanwhile he was saying: "Pauline is right, Selma. I had already +asked myself if it would not be fairer to you to move uptown where +we should be in the van and in touch with what is going on. Pauline +is gently hinting to you that you must not humor me as she has +done, and let me eat bread and milk out of a bowl in this old +curiosity shop, instead of following in the wake of fashion. She +has spoiled me and now she deserts me at the critical moment of my +life. Selma, you shall have the most charming modern house in New +York within my means. It must be love in a cottage, but the cottage +shall have the latest improvements—hot and cold water, tiles, +hygienic plumbing and dados."</p> +<p>"Bravo!" said Pauline. "He says I have spoiled him, Selma. +Perhaps I have. It will be your turn now. You will fail to convert +him as I have failed, and the world will be the better for it. +There are too few men who think noble thoughts and practice them, +who are true to themselves and the light which is in them through +thick and thin. But you see, he admits himself that he needs to mix +with the world a little more. Otherwise he is perfect. You know +that perhaps, already, Selma. But I wish to tell it to you before +him. Take care of him, dear, won't you?"</p> +<p>"It was because I felt that his thoughts were nobler than most +men's that I wished to marry him," Selma replied, seraphically. +"But I can see that it is sensible to live where your friends live. +I shall try not to spoil him, Pauline." She was already conscious +of a mission which appealed to her. She had been content until now +in the ardor of her love to regard Wilbur as flawless—as in +some respects superior to herself; but it was a gratification to +her to detect this failing, and to perceive her opportunity for +usefulness. Surely it was important for her husband to be +progressive and not merely a dreamer.</p> +<p>Littleton looked from one to the other fondly. "Not many men are +blessed with the love of two such women," he said. "I put myself in +your hands. I bow my neck to the yoke."</p> +<p>In New York in the early seventies the fashionable quarter lay +between Eighth and Fortieth Streets, bounded on either side by +Fourth and Sixth Avenues. Central Park was completed, but the +region west of it was, from the social stand-point, still a +wilderness, and Fifth Avenue in the neighborhood of Twenty-third +Street was the centre of elegant social life. Selma took her first +view of this brilliant street on the following day on her way to +hunt for houses in the outlying district. The roar and bustle of +the city, which thrilled yet dazed her, seemed here softened by the +rows of tall, imposing residences in brown stone. Along the sunny +sidewalks passed with jaunty tread an ever-hurrying procession of +stylishly clad men and women; and along the roadbed sped an array +of private carriages conducted by coachmen in livery. It was a +brilliant day, and New Yorkers were making the most of it.</p> +<p>Selma had never seen such a sight before. Benham faded into +insignificance in comparison. She was excited, and she gazed +eagerly at the spectacle. Yet her look, though absorbed, was stern. +This sort of thing was unlike anything American within her personal +experience. This avenue of grand houses and this procession of fine +individuals and fine vehicles made her think of that small section +of Benham into which she had never been invited, and the thought +affected her disagreeably.</p> +<p>"Who are the people who live in these houses?" she asked, +presently.</p> +<p>Littleton had already told her that it was the most fashionable +street in the city.</p> +<p>"Oh, the rich and prosperous."</p> +<p>"Those who gamble in stocks, I suppose." Selma wished to be +assured that this was so.</p> +<p>"Some of them," said Littleton, with a laugh. "They belong to +people who have made money in various ways or have inherited +it—our well-to-do class, among them the first families in New +York, and many of them our best citizens."</p> +<p>"Are they friends of yours?"</p> +<p>Littleton laughed again. "A few—not many. Society here is +divided into sets, and they are not in my set. I prefer mine, and +fortunately, for I can't afford to belong to theirs."</p> +<p>"Oh!"</p> +<p>The frigidity and dryness of the exclamation Littleton ascribed +to Selma's intuitive enmity to the vanities of life.</p> +<p>"You mustn't pass judgment on them too hastily," he said. "New +York is a wonderful place, and it's likely to shock you before you +learn to appreciate what is interesting and fine here. I will tell +you a secret, Selma. Every one likes to make money. Even clergymen +feel it their duty to accept a call from the congregation which +offers the best salary, and probing men of science do not hesitate +to reap the harvest from a wonderful invention. Yet it is the +fashion with most of the people in this country who possess little +to prate about the wickedness of money-getters and to think evil of +the rich. That proceeds chiefly from envy, and it is sheer cant. +The people of the United States are engaged in an eager struggle to +advance themselves—to gain individual distinction, comfort, +success, and in New York to a greater extent than in any other +place can the capable man or woman sell his or her wares to the +best advantage—be they what they may, stocks, merchandise, +law, medicine, pictures. The world pays well for the things it +wants—and the world is pretty just in the long run. If it +doesn't like my designs, that will be because they're not worth +buying. The great thing—the difficult thing to guard against +in the whirl of this great city, where we are all striving to get +ahead—is not to sell one's self for money, not to sacrifice +the thing worth doing for mere pecuniary advantage. It's the great +temptation to some to do so, for only money can buy fine houses, +and carriages and jewels—yes, and in a certain sense, social +preferment. The problem is presented in a different form to every +man. Some can grow rich honestly, and some have to remain poor in +order to be true to themselves. We may have to remain poor, Selma +mia." He spoke gayly, as though that prospect did not disturb him +in the least.</p> +<p>"And we shall be just as good as the people who own these +houses." She said it gravely, as if it were a declaration of +principles, and at the same moment her gaze was caught and +disturbed by a pair of blithe, fashionably dressed young women +gliding by her with the quiet, unconscious grace of good-breeding. +She was inwardly aware, though she would never acknowledge it by +word or sign, that such people troubled her. More even than Mrs. +Taylor had troubled her. They were different from her and they +tantalized her.</p> +<p>At the same moment her husband was saying in reply, "Just as +good, but not necessarily any better. No—other things being +equal—not so good. We mustn't deceive ourselves with that +piece of cant. Some of them are frivolous enough, and dishonest +enough, heaven knows, but so there are frivolous and dishonest +people in every class. But there are many more who endeavor to be +good citizens—are good citizens, our best citizens. The +possession of money gives them the opportunity to become arbiters +of morals and taste, and to seek culture under the best advantages. +After all, an accumulation of money represents brains and energy in +some one. Look at this swell," he continued, indicating an +attractive looking young man who was passing. "His grandfather was +one of the ablest men in the city—an intelligent, +self-respecting, shrewd, industrious, public-spirited citizen who +made a large fortune. The son has had advantages which I have never +had, and I happen to know that he is a fine fellow and a very able +one. If it came to comparisons, I should be obliged to admit that +he's a more ornamental member of society than Jones, Brown, or +Robinson, and certainly no less useful. Do I shock you—you +sweet, unswerving little democrat of the democrats?"</p> +<p>It always pleased Selma to be called endearing names, and it +suited her in her present frame of mind to be dubbed a democrat, +for it did not suit her to be painfully realizing that she was +unable, at one brilliant swoop, to take her place as a leader in +social influence. Somehow she had expected to do this, despite her +first difficulties at Benham, for she had thought of New York as a +place where, as the wife of Littleton, the architect, she would at +once be a figure of importance. She shook her head and said, "It's +hard to believe that these people are really in earnest; that they +are serious in purpose and spirit." Meanwhile she was being haunted +by the irritating reflection that her clothes and her bearing were +inferior to those of the women she was passing. Secretly she was +making a resolve to imitate them, though she believed that she +despised them. She put her hand through her husband's arm and +added, almost fiercely, as she pressed closer to him, "We needn't +trouble our heads about them, Wilbur. We can get along without +being rich and fashionable, you and I. In spite of what you say, I +don't consider this sort of thing American."</p> +<p>"Get along? Darling, I was merely trying to be just to them; to +let you see that they are not so black as they're painted. We will +forget them forever. We have nothing in common with them. Get +along? I feel that my life will be a paradise living with you and +trying to make some impression on the life of this big, striving +city. But as to its not being American to live like these +people—well you know they are Americans and that New York is +the Mecca of the hard-fisted sons of toil from all over the country +who have made money. But you're right, Selma. Those who go in for +show and extravagance are not the best Americans—the +Americans whom you and I believe in. Sometimes I get discouraged +when I stop to think, and now I shall have you to keep me steadfast +to our faith."</p> +<p>"Yes, Wilbur. And how far from here are we to live?"</p> +<p>"Oh, a mile or more. On some side street where the land is cheap +and the rent low. What do we care for that, Selma mia?"</p> +<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3> +<p>Shortly before Selma Littleton took up her abode in New York, +Miss Florence, or, as she was familiarly known, Miss Flossy Price, +was an inhabitant of a New Jersey city. Her father was a second +cousin of Morton Price, whose family at that time was socially +conspicuous in fashionable New York society. Not aggressively +conspicuous, as ultra fashionable people are to-day, by dint of +frequent newspaper advertisement, but in consequence of elegant, +conservative respectability, fortified by and cushioned on a huge +income. In the early seventies to know the Morton Prices was a +social passport, and by no means every one socially ambitious knew +them. Morton Price's great-grandfather had been a peddler, his +grandfather a tea merchant, his father a tea merchant and bank +organizer, and he himself did nothing mercantile, but was a +director in diverse institutions, representing trusts or +philantrophy, and was regarded by many, including himself, as the +embodiment of ornamental and admirable citizenship. He could talk +by the hour on the degeneracy of state and city politics and the +evil deeds of Congress, and was, generally speaking, a +conservative, fastidious, well-dressed, well-fed man, who had a +winning way with women and a happy faculty of looking wise and +saying nothing rash in the presence of men. Some of the younger +generation were apt, with the lack of reverence belonging to youth, +to speak of him covertly as "a stuffed club," but no echo of this +epithet had ever reached the ear of his cousin, David Price, in New +Jersey. For him, as for most of the world within a radius of two +hundred miles, he was above criticism and a monument of social +power.</p> +<p>David Price, Miss Flossy's father, was the president of a small +and unprogressive but eminently solid bank. Respectable routine was +his motto, and he lived up to it, and, as a consequence, no more +sound institution of the kind existed in his neighborhood. He and +his directors were slow to adopt innovations of any kind; they put +stumbling blocks in the path of business convenience whenever they +could; in short, David Price in his humble way was a righteous, +narrow, hide-bound retarder of progress and worshipper of +established local custom. Therefore it was a constant source of +surprise and worry to him that he should have a progressive +daughter. There were four other children, patterns of quiet, +plodding conservatism, but—such is the irony of +fate—the youngest, prettiest, and his favorite, was an +independent, opinionated young woman, who seemed to turn a deaf ear +to paternal and maternal advice of safest New Jersey type. In her +father's words, she had no reverence for any thing or any body, +which was approximately true, for she did not hesitate to speak +disrespectfully even of the head of the house in New York.</p> +<p>"Poppa," she said one day, "Cousin Morton doesn't care for any +of us a little bit. I know what you're going to say," she added; +"that he sends you two turkeys every Thanksgiving. The last were +terribly tough. I'm sure he thinks that we never see turkeys here +in New Jersey, and that he considers us poor relations and that we +live in a hole. If one of us should call on him, I know it would +distress him awfully. He's right in thinking that this is a hole. +Nothing ever happens here, and when I marry I intend to live in New +York."</p> +<p>This was when she was seventeen. Her father was greatly shocked, +especially as he suspected in his secret soul that the tirade was +true in substance. He had been the recipient of Thanksgiving +turkeys for nearly twenty years on the plea that they had been +grown on the donor's farm in Westchester county, and he had seen +fit to invite his fellow-directors annually to dine off one of them +as a modest notice that he was on friendly terms with his +aristocratic New York cousin. But in all these twenty years turkeys +had been the only medium of intercourse between them. David Price, +on the few occasions when he had visited New York, had not found it +convenient to call. Once he had walked by on the other side of +Fifth avenue and looked at the house, but shyness and the thought +that he had no evening clothes in his valise had restrained him +from ringing the doorbell.</p> +<p>"You do your cousin Morton great injustice—great +injustice, Florence," he answered. "He never forgets to send the +turkeys, and as to the rest of your speech, I have only to say that +it is very disrespectful and very foolish. The next time I go to +New York I will take you to call on your cousins."</p> +<p>"And what would I say to them? No thank you, poppa." The young +woman shook her head decisively, and then she added, "I'm not going +to call on them, until I'm fit to. There!"</p> +<p>The ambiguity of this remark gave Mr. Price the opportunity to +say that, in view of her immediate shortcomings, it was a wise +conclusion, but he knew what she really meant and was distressed. +His feeling toward his cousin, though mildly envious, did not +extend to self-depreciation, nor had it served to undermine his +faith in the innate dignity and worth of New Jersey family life. He +could not only with a straight face, but with a kindling eye +inveigh against the perils of New York fashionable life, and +express gratification that no son or daughter of his had wandered +so far from the fold. It distressed him to think that Florence +should be casting sheep's eyes at the flesh-pots of Gotham, and so +failing to appreciate the blessings and safety of a quiet American +home.</p> +<p>Miss Flossy continued to entertain and to express opinions of +her own, and as a result became socially interesting. At eighteen, +by her beauty, her engaging frankness and lack of +self-consciousness, she spread havoc among the young men of her +native city, several of whom offered her marriage. But marriage was +far from her thoughts. Life seemed too interesting and she wished +to see the world. She was erect and alert looking, with a compact +figure of medium height, large brown eyes and rich red hair, and a +laughing mouth; also an innocent demeanor, which served to give +her, by moonlight, the effect of an angel. She succeeded in +visiting Bar Harbor, where she promptly became a bright particular +star among the galaxy of young women who at that period were +establishing the reputation of the summer girl. She continued to be +a summer girl for four seasons without injury to her own peace of +mind. At the end of the fourth summer she appeared on close +scrutiny to be a little worn, and her innocent air seemed a trifle +deliberate. She returned to her home in New Jersey in not quite her +usual spirits. In fact she became pensive. She had seen the world, +and lo! she found it stuffed with sawdust. She was ready to settle +down, but the only man with whom she would have been willing to +settle had never asked her. He was the brother of one of the girls +who had been forbidden by her mother to stay out in canoes with +young men after nine at night. The rumor had reached Flossy that +this same mother had referred to her in "the fish pond" at Rodick's +as "that dreadful girl." It would have pleased her after that to +have wrung an offer of marriage from the son and heir, who knew her +cousins, the Morton Prices, and to whom she would have been willing +to engage herself temporarily at all events. He was very devoted; +they stayed out in his canoe until past midnight; he wrote verses +to her and told her his innermost thoughts; but he stopped there. +He went away without committing himself, and she was left to chew +the cud of reflection. It was bitter, not because she was in love +with him, for she was not. In her heart she knew he bored her a +little. But she was piqued. Evidently he had been afraid to marry +"that dreadful girl." She was piqued and she was sad. She +recognized that it was another case of not being fit. When would +she be fit? What was she to do in order to become fit—fit +like the girl who was not allowed to stay on the water after nine +o'clock? She had ceased to think of the young man, but the image of +his sister haunted her. How stylish she was, yet how simple and +quiet! "I wonder," thought Flossy to herself, "if I could ever +become like her." The reflection threw her into a brown study in +which she remained for weeks, and during which she refused the hand +of a staid and respectable townsman, who, in her father's words, +was ready to take her with all her follies. David Price was +disappointed. He loved this independent daughter, and he had hopes +that her demure and reticent deportment signified that the +effervescence of youth had evaporated. But it was only an effort on +Flossy's part to imitate the young man's sister.</p> +<p>At this juncture and just when she was bored and dispirited by +the process, Gregory Williams appeared on the scene. Flossy met him +at a dancing party. He had a very tall collar, a very friendly, +confident, and (toward her) devoted manner, and good looks. It was +whispered among the girls that he was a banker from New York. He +was obviously not over thirty, which was young for a banker, but so +he presently described himself to Flossy with hints of impending +prosperity. He spoke glibly and picturesquely. He had a convincing +eloquence of gesture—a wave of the hand which suggested +energy and compelled confidence. He had picked her out at once to +be introduced to, and sympathy between them was speedily +established. Her wearing, as a red-headed girl, a white horse in +the form of a pin, in order to prevent the attention of the men to +whom she talked from wandering, delighted him. He said to himself +that here was a girl after his own heart. He had admired her looks +at the outset, but he gazed at her now more critically. He danced +every dance with her, and they sat together at supper, apart from +everybody else. Flossy's resolutions were swept away. That is, she +had become in an instant indifferent to the fact that the New York +girl she had yearned to imitate would not have made herself so +conspicuous. Her excuse was that she could not help herself. It was +a case of genuine, violent attraction, which she made no effort to +straggle against.</p> +<p>The attraction was violent on both sides. Gregory Williams was +not seeking to be married. He had been, until within six months, a +broker's clerk, and had become a banker on the strength of ten +thousand dollars bequeathed to him by a grandmother. He and a clerk +from another broker's office, J. Willett VanHorne, had recently +formed a partnership as Williams & VanHorne, Bankers and +Dealers in Stocks and Bonds. He was not seeking to be married, but +he intended to be married some day, and it was no part of his +scheme of life to deny himself anything he wished. Support a wife? +Of course he could; and support her in the same grandiose fashion +which he had adopted for himself since he had begun business on his +own account. He had chosen as a philosophy of life the smart +paradox, which he enjoyed uttering, that he spent what he needed +first and supplied the means later; and at the same time he let it +be understood that the system worked wonderfully. He possessed +unlimited confidence in himself, and though he was dimly aware that +a very small turn of the wheel of fortune in the wrong direction +would ruin him financially, he chose to close his eyes to the +possibilities of disaster and to assume a bold and important +bearing before the world. He had implicit faith in his own special +line of ability, and he appreciated the worth of his partner, +VanHorne. He had joined forces with VanHorne because he knew that +he was the opposite of himself—that he was a delving, +thorough, shrewd, keen office man—and able too. How genuinely +able Williams did not yet know. He himself was to be the showy +partner, the originator of schemes and procurer of business, the +brilliant man before the world. So there was some method in his +madness. And with it all went a cheery, incisive, humorous point of +view which was congenial and diverting to Flossy.</p> +<p>He went away, but he came back once—twice—thrice in +quick succession. On business, so he said casually to Mr. and Mrs. +Price, but his language to their daughter was a declaration of +personal devotion. It remained for her to say whether she would +marry him or no. Of one thing she was sure without need of +reflection, that she loved him ardently. As a consequence she +surrendered at once, though, curiously enough, she was conscious +when she permitted him to kiss her with effusion that he was not +the sort of man she had intended to marry—that he was not fit +in her sense of the word. Yet she was determined to marry him, and +from the moment their troth was plighted she found herself his +eager and faithful ally, dreaming and scheming on their joint +account. She would help him to succeed; they would conquer the +world together; she would never doubt his ability to conquer it. +And in time—yes, in time they would make even the Morton +Prices notice them.</p> +<p>And so after some bewildered opposition on the part of Mr. +Price, who was alternately appalled and fascinated by the +magniloquent language of his would-be son-in-law, they were +married. Flossy gave but a single sign to her husband that she +understood him and recognized what they really represented. It was +one evening a few months after they had set up housekeeping while +they were walking home from the theatre. They had previously dined +at Delmonico's, and the cost of the evening's entertainment, +including a bottle of champagne at dinner, their tickets and a +corsage bouquet of violets for Flossy, had been fifteen dollars. +Flossy wore a resplendent theatre hat and fashionable +cape—one of the several stylish costumes with which her +husband had hastened to present her, and Gregory was convoying her +along the Avenue with the air of a man not averse to have the world +recognize that they were a well set up and prosperous couple. +Flossy had put her arm well inside his and was doing her best to +help him produce the effect which he desired, when she suddenly +said:</p> +<p>"I wonder, Gregory, how long it will be before we're really +anybody. Now, of course, we're only make believe swell."</p> +<p>Gregory gave an amused laugh. "What a clever little woman! +That's just what we are. We'll keep it a secret, though, and won't +advertise it to the world."</p> +<p>"Mum's the word," she replied, giving his arm a squeeze. "I only +wished you to know that I was not being fooled; that I +understood."</p> +<p>Fate ordained that the Williamses and the Littletons should take +houses side by side in the same block. It was a new block, and at +first they were the sole occupants. Williams bought his house, +giving a mortgage back to the seller for all the man would accept, +and obtaining a second mortgage from a money lender in +consideration of a higher rate of interest, for practically the +remaining value. He furnished his house ornately from top to bottom +in the latest fashion, incurring bills for a portion of the +effects, and arranging to pay on the instalment plan where he could +not obtain full credit. His reasoning was convincing to himself and +did not alarm Flossy, who was glad to feel that they were the +owners of the house and attractive furniture. It was that the land +was sure to improve in value before the mortgage became due, and as +for the carpets and curtains and other outlays, a few points in the +stock market would pay for them at any time.</p> +<p>Wilbur Littleton did not possess the ready money to buy; +consequently he took a lease of his new house for three years, and +paid promptly for the furniture he bought, the selection of which +was gradual. Gregory Williams had a marvellous way of entering a +shop and buying everything which pleased his eye at one fell swoop, +but Wilbur, who desired to accomplish the best æsthetic +effects possible consistent with his limited means, trotted Selma +from one shop to another before choosing. This process of selecting +slowly the things with which they were to pass their lives was a +pleasure to him, and, as he supposed, to Selma. She did enjoy +keenly at first beholding the enticing contents of the various +stores which they entered in the process of procuring wall-papers, +carpets, and the other essentials for house-keeping. It was a +revelation to her that such beautiful things existed, and her +inclination was to purchase the most showy and the most costly +articles. In the adornment of her former home Babcock had given her +a free hand. That is, his disposition had been to buy the finest +things which the shopkeepers of Benham called to his attention. She +understood now that his taste and the taste of Benham, and even +her's, had been at fault, but she found herself hampered now by a +new and annoying limitation, the smallness of their means. Almost +every thing was very expensive, and she was obliged to pass by the +patterns and materials she desired to possess, and accept articles +of a more sober and less engaging character. Many of these, to be +sure, were declared by Wilbur to be artistically charming and more +suitable than many which she preferred, but it would have suited +her better to fix on the rich upholstery and solid furniture, which +were evidently the latest fashion in household decoration, rather +than go mousing from place to place, only at last to pick up in the +back corner of some store this or that object which was both +reasonably pretty and reasonably cheap. When it was all over Selma +was pleased with the effect of her establishment, but she had eaten +of the tree of knowledge. She had visited the New York shops. +These, in her capacity of a God-fearing American, she would have +been ready to anathematize in a speech or in a newspaper article, +but the memory of them haunted her imagination and left her +domestic yearnings not wholly satisfied.</p> +<p>Wilbur Littleton's scheme of domestic life was essentially +spiritual, and in the development of it he felt that he was +consulting his wife's tastes and theories no less than his own. He +knew that she understood that he was ambitious to make a name for +himself as an architect; but to make it only by virtue of work of a +high order; that he was unwilling to become a time-server or to +lower his professional standards merely to make temporary progress, +which in the end would mar a success worth having. He had no doubt +that he had made this clear to her and that she sympathized with +him. As a married man it was his desire and intention not to allow +his interest in this ambition to interfere with the enjoyment of +the new great happiness which had come into his life. He would be a +professional recluse no longer. He would cast off his work when he +left his office, and devote his evenings to the æsthetic +delights of Selma's society. They would read aloud; he would tell +her his plans and ask her advice; they would go now and then to the +theatre; and, in justice to her, they would occasionally entertain +their friends and accept invitations from them. With this outlook +in mind he had made such an outlay as would render his home +attractive and cosey—simple as became a couple just beginning +life, yet the abode of a gentleman and a lover of inspiring and +pretty things.</p> +<p>As has been mentioned, Littleton was a Unitarian, and one effect +of his faith had been to make his point of view broad and +straightforward. He detested hypocrisy and cant, subterfuge and +self-delusion. He was content to let other people live according to +their own lights without too much distress on their account, but he +was too honest and too clear-headed to be able to deceive himself +as to his own motives and his own conduct. He had no intention to +be morbid, but he saw clearly that it was his privilege and his +duty to be true to both his loves, his wife and his profession, and +that if he neglected either, he would be so far false to his best +needs and aspirations. Yet he felt that for the moment it was +incumbent on him to err on the side of devotion to his wife until +she should become accustomed to her new surroundings.</p> +<p>The problem of the proper arrangement and subdivision of life in +a large city and in these seething, modern times is perplexing to +all of us. There are so many things we would like to do which we +cannot; so many things which we do against our wills. We are +perpetually squinting at happiness, but just as we get a delightful +vision before our eyes we are whisked off by duty or ambition or +the force of social momentum to try a different view. Consequently +our perennial regret is apt to be that we have seen our real +interests and our real friends as in a panorama, for a fleeting +moment, and then no more until the next time. For Littleton this +was less true than for most. His life was deep and stable rather +than many-sided. To be sure his brain experienced, now and then, +the dazing effects of trying to confront all the problems of the +universe and adapt his architectural endeavors to his +interpretation of them; and he knew well the bewildering +difficulties of the process of adjusting professional theories to +the sterile conditions which workaday practice often presented. But +this crowding of his mental canvas was all in the line of his life +purpose. The days were too short, and sometimes left him perplexed +and harassed by their rush; yet he was still pursuing the tenor of +his way. The interest of marriage was not, therefore, in his case a +fresh burden on a soul already laden with a variety of side +pursuits. He was neither socially nor philanthropically active; he +was not a club man, nor an athletic enthusiast; he was on no +committees; he voted on election days, but he did not take an +active part in politics. For Selma's sake all this must be changed; +and he was glad to acknowledge that he owed it to himself as well +as to her to widen his sympathies.</p> +<p>As a first step in reform he began to leave his office daily at +five instead of six, and, on Saturdays, as soon after two as +possible. For a few months these brands of time snatched from the +furnace of his professional ardor were devoted to the shopping +relative to house-furnishing. When that was over, to walking with +Selma; sometimes as a sheer round of exercise in company, sometimes +to visit a print-shop, exhibition of pictures, book-store, or other +attraction of the hour. But the evening was for him the ideal +portion of the day; when, after dinner was done, they made +themselves comfortable in the new library, their living room, and +it became his privilege to read aloud to her or to compare ideas +with her regarding books and pictures and what was going on in the +world. It had been a dream of Littleton's that some day he would +re-read consecutively the British poets, and as soon as the +furniture was all in place and the questions of choice of rugs and +chairs and pictures had been settled by purchase, he proposed it as +a definite occupation whenever they had nothing else in view. It +delighted him that Selma received this suggestion with enthusiasm. +Accordingly, they devoted their spare evenings to the undertaking, +reading aloud in turn. Littleton's enunciation was clear and +intelligent, and as a happy lover he was in a mood to fit poetic +thoughts to his own experience, and to utter them ardently. While +he read, Selma knew that she was ever the heroine of his +imagination, which was agreeable, and she recognized besides that +his performance in itself was æsthetically attractive. Yet in +spite of the personal tribute, Selma preferred the evenings when +she herself was the elocutionist. She enjoyed the sound of her own +voice, and she enjoyed the emotions which her utterance of the +rhythmic stanzas set coursing through her brain. It was obvious to +her that Wilbur was captivated by her reading, and she delighted in +giving herself up to the spirit of the text with the reservations +appropriate to an enlightened but virtuous soul. For instance, in +the case of Shelley, she gloried in his soaring, but did not let +herself forget that fire-worship was not practical; in the case of +Byron, though she yielded her senses to the spell of his passionate +imagery, she reflected approvingly that she was a married +woman.</p> +<p>But Littleton appreciated also that his wife should have the +society of others beside himself. Pauline introduced her promptly +to her own small but intelligent feminine circle, and pending +Pauline's removal to a flat, the Saturday evening suppers were +maintained at the old establishment. Here Selma made the +acquaintance of her husband's and his sister's friends, both men +and women, who dropped in often after the play and without ceremony +for a weekly interchange of thought and comradeship. Selma looked +forward to the first of these occasions with an eager curiosity. +She expected a renewal of the Benham Institute, only in a more +impressive form, as befitted a great literary centre; that papers +would be read, original compositions recited, and many interesting +people of both sexes perform according to their specialties. She +confidently hoped to have the opportunity to declaim, "Oh, why +should the spirit of mortal be proud?" "Curfew must not ring +to-night," or some other of her literary pieces.</p> +<p>Therefore, it was almost a shock to her that the affair was so +informal, and that the company seemed chiefly occupied in behaving +gayly—in making sallies at each other's expense, which were +greeted with merriment. They seemed to her like a lot of children +let loose from school. There were no exercises, and no allusion was +made to the attainments of the various guests beyond an occasional +word of introduction by Pauline or Wilbur; and this word was apt to +be of serio-comic import. Selma realized that among the fifteen +people present there were representatives of various interesting +crafts—writers, artists, a magazine editor, two critics of +the stage, a prominent musician, and a college professor—but +none of them seemed to her to act a part or to have their +accomplishments in evidence, as she would have liked. Every one was +very cordial to her, and appeared desirous to recognize her as a +permanent member of their circle, but she could not help feeling +disappointed at the absence of ceremony and formal events. There +was no president or secretary, and presently the party went into +the dining-room and sat around a table, at either end of which +Pauline and Wilbur presided over a blazer. Interest centred on the +preparation of a rabbit and creamed oysters, and pleasant badinage +flew from tongue to tongue. Selma found herself between the +magazine editor and a large, powerfully built man with a broad, +rotund, strong face, who was introduced to her as Dr. Page, and who +was called George by every one else. He had arrived late, just as +they were going in to supper, and his appearance had been greeted +with a murmur of satisfaction. He had placed himself between +Pauline and her, and he showed himself, to Selma's thinking, one of +the least dignified of the company.</p> +<p>"My dear Mrs. Littleton," he said, with a counterfeit of great +gravity, "you are now witnessing an impressive example of the +politeness of true friendship. There are cynics who assert that the +American people are lacking in courtesy, and cast in our teeth the +superiority of Japanese manners. I wish they were here to-night. +There is not a single individual present, male or female, married +or single, who does not secretly cherish the amiable belief that he +or she can cook things on a blazer better than any one else. And +yet we abstain from criticism; we offer no suggestions; we accept, +without a murmur, the proportions of cheese and beer and butter +inflicted upon us by our hostess and her brother, and are silent. +We shall even become complimentary later. Can the Japanese vie with +this?"</p> +<p>The contrast between his eager, grave gaze, and the levity of +his words, puzzled Selma. He looked interesting, but his speech +seemed to her trivial and unworthy of the occasion. Still she +appreciated that she must not be a spoil-sport, and that it was +incumbent on her to resign herself to the situation, so she smiled +gayly, and said: "I am the only one then not suffering from +self-restraint. I never made a Welsh rabbit, nor cooked on a +blazer." Then, in her desire for more serious conversation, she +added: "Do you really think that we, as a people, are less polite +than the Japanese?"</p> +<p>The doctor regarded her with solemn interest for an instant, as +though he were pondering the question. As a matter of fact, he was +thinking that she was remarkably pretty. Then he put his finger on +his lips, and in a hoarse whisper, said, "Sh! Be careful. If the +editorial ear should catch your proposition the editorial man would +appropriate it. There!" he added, as her left-hand neighbor bent +toward them in response to the summons, "he has heard, and your +opportunity to sell an idea to the magazine is lost. It is all very +fine for him to protest that he has heard nothing. That is a trick +of his trade. Let us see now if he will agree to buy. If he +refuses, it will be a clear case that he has heard and purloined +it. Come, Dennison, here's a chance for a ten thousand-word +symposium debate, 'Are we, as a nation, less polite than the +Japanese?' We offer it for a hundred and fifty cash, and cheap at +the price."</p> +<p>Mr. Dennison, who was a keen-eyed, quiet man, with a brown, +closely-cut beard, had paused in his occupation of buttering hot +toast for the impending rabbit, and was smiling quizzically. "If +you have literary secrets to dispose of, Mrs. Littleton, let me +warn you against making a confidant of Dr. Page. Had you spoken to +me first, there is no knowing what I might have—"</p> +<p>"What did I tell you?" broke in the doctor. "A one hundred and +fifty-dollar idea ruthlessly appropriated. These editors, these +editors!"</p> +<p>It was tantalizing to Selma to be skirting the edge of themes +she would have enjoyed to hear treated seriously. She hoped that +Mr. Dennison would inquire if she really wrote, and at least he +would tell her something about his magazine and literary life in +New York. But he took up again his task of buttering toast, and +sought to interest her in that. Presently she was unable to resist +the temptation of remarking that the editorship of a magazine must +be one of the most interesting of all occupations; but he looked at +her with his quizzical smile, and answered:</p> +<p>"Between you and me, Mrs. Littleton, I will confide to you that +a considerable portion of the time it is a confounded bore. To tell +the truth, I much prefer to sit next to you and butter toast."</p> +<p>This was depressing and puzzling to Selma; but after the +consumption of the rabbit and the oysters there was some +improvement in the general tone of the conversation. Yet, not so +far as she was concerned. Mr. Dennison neglected to confide to her +the secrets of his prison house, and Dr. Page ruthlessly refused to +discuss medicine, philosophy, or the Japanese. But here and there +allusion was made by one or another of the company to something +which had been done in the world of letters, or art, or music, +which possessed merit or deserved discouragement. What was said was +uttered simply, often trenchantly and lightly, but never as a +dogma, or with the solemnity which Mrs. Earle had been wont to +impart to her opinions. Just as the party was about to break up, +Dr. Page approached Selma and offered her his hand. "It is a great +pleasure to me to have met you," he said, looking into her face +with his honest eyes. "A good wife was just what Wilbur needed to +insure him happiness and a fine career. His friends have great +confidence in his ability, and we intrust him to you in the belief +that the world will hear from him—and I, for one, shall be +very grateful to you."</p> +<p>He spoke now with evident feeling, and his manner suggested the +desire to be her friend. Selma admired his large physique and felt +the attraction of his searching gaze.</p> +<p>"Perhaps he did need a wife," she answered with an attempt at +the sprightliness which he had laid aside. "I shall try not to let +him be too indifferent to practical considerations."</p> +<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3> +<p>"Who is Dr. Page?" asked Selma of her husband when they left the +house.</p> +<p>"One of our best friends, and one of the leading physicians in +the city. The energy of that man is tireless. He is absorbed in his +profession. The only respite he allows himself are these Saturday +evenings, and his devotion to his little son who has hip disease. +He told me to-night that he had finished his day's work only just +before he came in. What did you think of him? He likes to +tease."</p> +<p>"Then he is married?"</p> +<p>"He is a widower."</p> +<p>"He seems interested in you. He was good enough to say that he +thought you needed a wife."</p> +<p>"Then he must have admired you, Selma. Poor fellow! I wish he +might have that happiness himself. I'll tell you a secret: He has +desired to marry Pauline for years. They are devoted +friends—but until now that is all. His wife was an +actress—a handsome creature. Two years after they were +married she ran away with another man and left him. Left him with +one little boy, a cripple, on whom he lavishes all the love of his +big nature."</p> +<p>"How dreadful!"</p> +<p>"Yes, it is a sad story. That was ten years ago. He was very +young and the woman was very beautiful. It has been the making of +him, though, in one way. He had the pride and confidence of +ability, but he lacked sympathy. His experience and the appealing +presence of his son have developed his nature and given him +tenderness. He has not been imbittered; he has simply become +gentle. And how he works! He is already famous in his +profession."</p> +<p>"Does Pauline care for him?"</p> +<p>"I don't know her feelings. I am sure she is fond of him, and +admires him. I fancy, though, that she hesitates to renounce her +own ambitions. As you are aware, she is greatly interested in her +classes, and in matters pertaining to the higher education of +women. George Page knew her at the time of his marriage. I do not +mean that he paid her serious attention then, but he had the +opportunity to ask her instead of the other. Now, when she has +become absorbed in her life-work, she would naturally decline to +give it up unless she felt sure that she could not be happy without +him."</p> +<p>"I would not marry him if I were she," said Selma. "He has given +his best to the other woman. He is the one at fault, not Pauline. +Why should she sacrifice her own career in order to console +him?"</p> +<p>"She might love him sufficiently to be willing to do so, Selma. +Love makes women blind to faults. But poor George was scarcely at +fault. It was a misfortune."</p> +<p>"He made his choice and was deceived. It would be weak of her to +give up her own life merely because he is lonely. We modern women +have too much self-respect for that. Love is love, and it is not to +be trifled with."</p> +<p>"Yes, love is love," murmured Littleton, "and I am happy in +mine."</p> +<p>"That is because neither of us has loved before, you foolish +boy. But as to this evening, it wasn't at all what I expected. Are +your friends always like that?"</p> +<p>Littleton laughed. "Did they seem to you frivolous and +undignified, then?"</p> +<p>"Almost. They certainly said nothing serious."</p> +<p>"It is their holiday—their evening out. They have to be +serious during the rest of the week—busy with problems and +cares, for they are a set of hard workers. The stress of life is so +rigorous and constant here in New York that we have learned not to +take our pleasure sadly. When you become accustomed to their way +you will realize that they are no less serious at heart because +they frolic now and then."</p> +<p>Selma was silent a moment; then she said, "That reminds me; have +you found out about our next-door neighbors yet?"</p> +<p>"He is a banker named Williams, I believe."</p> +<p>"I saw his wife pass the window this morning. She was +beautifully dressed. They must be rich."</p> +<p>"I dare say."</p> +<p>"But they live in the same style of house as ours."</p> +<p>"Bankers have mysterious ways of making money. We cannot compete +with those."</p> +<p>"I suppose not. I was thinking that she had the same manner as +some of your friends this evening, only more pronounced. She +stopped to speak to some one just in front of the house, so I could +observe her. I should think she was frivolous, but fascinating. +That must be the New York manner, and, consequently, she may be +very much in earnest."</p> +<p>"It isn't given to every woman to be attractive all the time +just because she looks in earnest, as it is to you, dearest. But +you musn't be too severe on the others."</p> +<p>"On the contrary, I think I shall like Mrs. Williams. She may +teach us to be practical. You know that is what your friends would +like to have me help you to be, Wilbur."</p> +<p>"Then they did talk a word or two of sense?"</p> +<p>"They said that. Do you think it is true that you are +visionary?"</p> +<p>"It is your duty to tell me so, Selma, when you think it, just +as I have told you that we can afford to laugh now and then. Come, +begin."</p> +<p>"I haven't been your wife long enough yet. I shall know better +by the end of another six months."</p> +<p>A fortnight elapsed before Selma made the acquaintance of Mrs. +Gregory Williams. It was not a chance meeting. Flossy rang the bell +deliberately one afternoon and was ushered in, thereby bridging +over summarily the yawning chasm which may continue to exist for an +indefinite period between families in the same block who are +waiting to be introduced.</p> +<p>"I said to my husband last night, Mrs. Littleton, that it was +ridiculous for us to be living side by side without knowing one +another, and that I was going to call. We moved in three weeks +before you, so I'm the one who ought to break the ice. Otherwise we +might have stared at each other blankly for three months, looked at +each other sheepishly out of the corner of our eyes for another +three, half bowed for six months, and finally, perhaps, reached the +stage where we are now. Neighbors should be neighborly, don't you +think so?"</p> +<p>"Indeed I do. Of course I knew you by sight; and I felt I should +like to make your acquaintance." Selma spoke with enthusiasm. Here +was some one whose social deftness was no less marked than Mrs. +Hallett Taylor's, and, to her mind, more brilliant, yet whom she +felt at once to be congenial. Though she perceived that her +neighbor's clothes made her own apparel seem dull, and was +accordingly disposed to be on her guard, she realized instinctively +that she was attracted by the visitor.</p> +<p>"That is very nice of you," said Flossy. "I told my +husband—Gregory—the other day that I was sure you were +something literary—I mean Mr. Littleton, of course—and +when he found out that he was I said we must certainly cultivate +you as an antidote to the banking business. Gregory's a banker. It +must be delightful to plan houses. This room is so pretty and +tasteful."</p> +<p>"It isn't wholly furnished yet. We are buying things by degrees, +as we find pieces which we like."</p> +<p>"We bought all our things in two days at one fell swoop," said +Flossy with a gay laugh. "Gregory gave the dealers carte blanche. +That's his way," she added with a touch of pride. "I dare say the +house would have been prettier if we could have taken more time. +However, it is all paid for now. Some of it was bought on the +instalment plan, but Gregory bought or sold something in stocks the +next week which covered the furniture and paid for a present for me +of this besides," she said, indicating her seal-skin cape. "Wasn't +he a dear?"</p> +<p>Selma did not know precisely what the instalment plan was, but +she understood that Mr. Williams had been distinctly clever in his +wife's estimation. She perceived that Mrs. Williams had the same +light, half jocular manner displayed by Wilbur's friends, and that +she spoke with bubbling, jaunty assurance, which was suggestive of +frivolity. Still Wilbur had intimated that this might be the New +York manner, and clearly her neighbor had come in a friendly spirit +and was duly appreciative of the distinction of being literary. +Besides, her ready disposition to talk about herself and her +affairs seemed to Selma the sign of a willingness to be truly +friendly. The seal-skin cape she wore was very handsome, and she +was more conspicuously attired from head to foot than any woman +with whom Selma had ever conversed. She was pretty, too—a +type of beauty less spiritual than her own—with piquant, +eager features, laughing, restless gray eyes, and light hair which +escaped from her coquettish bonnet in airy ringlets. If they had +met three years earlier Selma would certainly have regarded her as +an incarnation of volatility and servility to foreign fashions. +Now, though she classed her promptly as a frivolous person, she +regarded her with a keen curiosity not unmixed with self-distress, +and the reflection came to her that a little of the New York manner +might perhaps be desirable when in New York.</p> +<p>"Yes, it's beautiful," she replied, referring to the cape.</p> +<p>"Gregory is always making me presents like that. He gave me this +bracelet yesterday. He saw it in the shop-window and went in and +bought it. Speaking of husbands, you won't mind my saying that I +think Mr. Littleton is very distinguished looking? I often see him +pass the window in the morning."</p> +<p>"Of course <i>I</i> think so," said Selma. "I suppose it would +seem flat if I were to say that I admired Mr. Williams's appearance +also."</p> +<p>"The truth is no harm. Wouldn't it be nice if we should happen +to become friends? We are the pioneers in this block, but I hear +three other houses have been sold. I suppose you own your +house?"</p> +<p>"I believe not. We have a lease of it."</p> +<p>"That's a pity, because Gregory bought ours on a mortgage, +thinking the land is sure to become more valuable. He hopes to be +able to sell some day for a great deal more than he paid for it. +May I ask where you lived before you were married?"</p> +<p>Selma told her briefly.</p> +<p>"Then you are almost Western. I felt sure you weren't a New +Yorker, and I didn't think you were from Boston. You have the +Boston earnest expression, but somehow you're different. You don't +mind my analyzing you, do you? That's a Boston habit by the way. +But I'm not from Boston. I've lived all my life in New Jersey. So +we are both strangers in New York. That is, I'm the same as a +stranger, though my father is a cousin of the Morton Prices. We +sent them wedding cards and they called one day when I was out. I +shall return the call and find them out, and that will be the last +move on either side until Gregory does something remarkable. I'm +rather glad I wasn't at home, because it would have been awkward. +They wouldn't have known what to say to me, and they might have +felt that they ought to ask me to dinner, and I don't care to have +them ask me until they're obliged to. Do I shock you running on so +about my own affairs?" Flossy asked, noticing Selma draw herself up +sternly.</p> +<p>"Oh no, I like that. I was only thinking that it was very +strange of your cousins. You are as good as they, aren't you?"</p> +<p>"Mercy, no. We both know it, and that's what makes the situation +so awkward. As Christians, they had to call on me, but I really +think they are justified in stopping there. Socially I'm +nobody."</p> +<p>"In this country we are all free and equal."</p> +<p>"You're a dear—a delicious dear," retorted Flossy, with a +caressing laugh. "There's something of the sort in the Declaration +of Independence, but, as Gregory says, that was put in as a bluff +to console salesladies. Was everybody equal in Benham, Mrs. +Littleton?"</p> +<p>"Practically so," said Selma, with an air of haughtiness, which +was evoked by her recollection of the group of houses on Benham's +River Drive into which she had never been invited. "There were some +people who were richer than others, but that didn't make them +better than any one else."</p> +<p>"Well, in New York it's different. Of course, every body has the +same right to vote or to be elected President of the United States, +but equality ends there. People here are either in society or out +of it, and society itself is divided into sets. There's the +conservative aristocratic set, the smart rapid set, the set which +hasn't much money, but has Knickerbocker or other highly +respectable ancestors, the new millionaire set, the literary set, +the intellectual philanthropic set, and so on, according to one's +means or tastes. Each has its little circle which shades away into +the others, and every now and then there is a big entertainment to +which they all go."</p> +<p>"I see," said Selma, coldly.</p> +<p>"Now, to make it plain, I will confide to you in strictest +confidence that Gregory and I aren't yet really in any set. We are +trying to get a footing and are holding on by our teeth to the +fringe of the social merry-go-round. I wouldn't admit it to any one +but you; but as you are a stranger like myself and in the same +block, I am glad to initiate you into the customs of this part of +the country," Flossy gave a merry toss to her head which set her +ringlets bobbing, and rose to go.</p> +<p>"And in what set are your cousins?" asked Selma.</p> +<p>"If you wish to hear about them, I shall have to sit down again. +The Morton-Prices belong to the ultra-conservative, solid, stupid, +aristocratic set—the most dignified and august of all. They +are almost as sacred as Hindoo gods, and some people would walk +over red-hot coals to gain admission to their house. And really, +it's quite just in one way that incense should be burnt before +them. You mustn't look so disgusted, because there's some sense in +it all. As Gregory says, it's best to look things squarely in the +face. Most of the people in these different sets are somebodies +because either their grandfathers or they have done something +well—better than other people, and made money as a +consequence. And when a family has made money or won distinction by +its brains and then has brushed its teeth twice a day religiously +for two generations, the members of it, even though dull, are +entitled to respect, don't you think so?"</p> +<p>Selma, who brushed her teeth but once a day, looked a little +sharp at Flossy.</p> +<p>"It makes money of too much importance and it establishes class +distinctions. I don't approve of such a condition of affairs at +all."</p> +<p>Flossy shrugged her shoulders. "I have never thought whether I +approve of it or not. I am only telling you what exists. I don't +deny that money counts for a great deal, for, as Gregory says, +money is the measure of success. But money isn't everything. Brains +count and refinement, and nice honorable ways of looking at things. +Of course, I'm only telling you what my ambition is. People have +different kinds of bees in their bonnets. Some men have the +presidential bee; I have the social bee. I should like to be +recognized as a prominent member of the charmed circle on my own +merits and show my cousins that I am really worthy of their +attention. There are a few who are able to be superior to that sort +of thing, who go on living their own lives attractively and finely, +without thinking of society, and who suddenly wake up some day to +find themselves socially famous—to find that they have been +taken up. That's the best way, but one requires to be the right +sort of person and to have a lot of moral courage. I can imagine it +happening to you and your husband. But it would never happen to +Gregory and me. We shall have to make money and cut a dash in order +to attract attention, and by-and-by, if we are persistent and +clever enough, we may be recognized as somebodies, provided there +is something original or interesting about us. There! I have told +you my secret and shocked you into the bargain. I really must be +going. But I'll tell you another secret first: It'll be a pleasure +to me to see you, if I may, because you look at things differently +and haven't a social bee. I wish I were like that—really like +it. But then, as Gregory would say, I shouldn't be myself, and not +to be one's self is worse than anything else after all, isn't it? +You and your husband must come and dine with us soon."</p> +<p>After Mrs. Williams had gone, Selma fell into a brown study. She +had listened to sentiments of which she thoroughly disapproved, and +which were at variance with all her theories and conceptions. What +her friendly, frivolous visitor had told her with engaging +frankness offended her conscience and patriotism. She did not +choose to admit the existence of these class-distinctions, and she +knew that even if they did exist, they could not possibly concern +Wilbur and herself. Even Mrs. Williams had appreciated that Wilbur +and her literary superiority put them above and beyond the +application of any snobbish, artificial, social measuring-tape. And +yet Selma's brow was clouded. Her thought reverted to the row of +stately houses on either side of Fifth Avenue, into none of which +she had the right of free access, in spite of the fact that she was +leading her life attractively and finely, without regard to +society. She thought instinctively of Sodom and Gomorrah, and she +saw righteously with her mind's eye for a moment an angel with a +flaming sword consigning to destruction these offending mansions +and their owners as symbols of mammon and contraband to God.</p> +<p>That evening she told Wilbur of Mrs. Williams's visit. "She's a +bright, amusing person, and quite pretty. We took a fancy to each +other. But what do you suppose she said? She intimated that we +haven't any social position."</p> +<p>"Very kind of her, I'm sure. She must be a woman of +discrimination—likewise something of a character."</p> +<p>"She's smart. So you think it's true?"</p> +<p>"What? About our social position? Ours is as good as theirs, I +fancy."</p> +<p>"Oh yes, Wilbur. She acknowledges that herself. She admires us +both and she thinks it fine that we don't care for that sort of +thing. What she said was chiefly in connection with herself, but +she intimated that neither they, nor we, are +the—er—equals of the people who live on Fifth Avenue +and thereabouts. She's a cousin of the Morton Prices, whoever they +may be, and she declared perfectly frankly that they were better +than she. Wasn't it funny?"</p> +<p>"You seem to have made considerable progress for one visit."</p> +<p>"I like that, you know, Wilbur. I prefer people who are willing +to tell me their real feelings at once."</p> +<p>"Morton Price is one of the big bugs. His great grandfather was +among the wise, shrewd pioneers in the commercial progress of the +city. The present generation are eminently respectable, very +dignified, mildly philanthropic, somewhat self-indulgent, +reasonably harmless, decidedly ornamental and rather dull."</p> +<p>"But Mrs. Williams says that she will never be happy until her +relations and the people of that set are obliged to take notice of +her, and that she and her husband are going to cut a dash to +attract attention. It's her secret."</p> +<p>"The cat which she let out of the bag is a familiar one. She +must be amusing, provided she is not vulgar."</p> +<p>"I don't think she's vulgar, Wilbur. She wears gorgeous clothes, +but they're extremely pretty. She said that she called on me +because she thought that we were literary, and that she desired an +antidote to the banker's business, which shows she isn't altogether +worldly. She wishes us to dine with them soon."</p> +<p>"That's neighborly."</p> +<p>"Why was it, Wilbur, that you didn't buy our house instead of +hiring it?"</p> +<p>"Because I hadn't money enough to pay for it."</p> +<p>"The Williamses bought theirs. But I don't believe they paid for +it altogether. She says her husband thinks the land will increase +in value, and they hope some day to make money by the rise. I +imagine Mr. Williams must be shrewd."</p> +<p>"He's a business man. Probably he bought, and gave a mortgage +back. I might have done that, but we weren't sure we should like +the location, and it isn't certain yet that fashion will move in +just this direction. I have very little, and I preferred not to tie +up everything in a house we might not wish to keep."</p> +<p>"I see. She appreciates that people may take us up any time. She +thinks you are distinguished looking."</p> +<p>"If she isn't careful, I shall make you jealous, Selma. Was +there anything you didn't discuss?"</p> +<p>"I regard you as the peer of any Morton Price alive. Why aren't +you?"</p> +<p>"Far be it from me to discourage such a wifely conclusion. +Provided you think so, I don't care for any one else's +opinion."</p> +<p>"But you agree with her. That is, you consider because people of +that sort don't invite us to their houses, they are better than +we."</p> +<p>"Nothing of the kind. But there's no use denying the existence +of social classes in this city, and that, though I flatter myself +you and I are trying to make the most of our lives in accordance +with the talents and means at our disposal, we are not and are not +likely to become, for the present at any rate, socially prominent. +That's what you have in mind, I think. I don't know those people; +they don't know me. Consequently they do not ask me to their +beautiful and costly entertainments. Some day, perhaps, if I am +very successful as an architect, we may come more in contact with +them, and they will have a chance to discover what a charming wife +I have. But from the point of view of society, your neighbor Mrs. +Williams is right. She evidently has a clear head on her shoulders +and knows what she desires. You and I believe that we can get more +happiness out of life by pursuing the even tenor of our way in the +position in which we happen to find ourselves."</p> +<p>"I don't understand it," said Selma, shaking her head and +looking into space with her spiritual expression. "It troubles me. +It isn't American. I didn't think such distinctions existed in this +country. Is it all a question of money, then? Do intelligence +and—er—purpose count for nothing?"</p> +<p>"My dear girl, it simply means that the people who are on +top—the people who, by force of success, or ability, or +money, are most prominent in the community, associate together, and +the world gives a certain prominence to their doings. Here, where +fortunes have been made so rapidly, and we have no formal +aristocracy, money undoubtedly plays a conspicuous part in giving +access to what is known as society. But it is only an entering +wedge. Money supplies the means to cultivate manners and the right +way of looking at things, and good society represents the best +manners and, on the whole, the best way of looking at things."</p> +<p>"Yes. But you say that we don't belong to it."</p> +<p>"We do in the broad, but not in the narrow sense. We have +neither the means nor the time to take part in fashionable society. +Surely, Selma, you have no such ambition?"</p> +<p>"I? You know I disapprove of everything of the sort. It is like +Europe. There's nothing American in it."</p> +<p>"I don't know about that. The people concerned in it are +Americans. If a man has made money there is no reason why he +shouldn't build a handsome house, maintain a fine establishment, +give his children the best educational advantages, and choose his +own friends. So the next generation becomes more civilized. It +isn't the best Americanism to waste one's time in pursuing +frivolities and excessive luxury, as some of these people do; but +there's nothing un-American in making the most of one's +opportunities. As I've said to you before, Selma, it's the way in +which one rises that's the important thing in the individual +equation, and every man must choose for himself what that shall be. +My ambition is to excel in my profession, and to mould my life to +that end without neglecting my duties as a citizen or a husband. +If, in the end, I win fame and fortune, so much the better. But +there's no use in worrying because other people are more +fashionable than we."</p> +<p>"Of course. You speak as if you thought I was envious of them, +Wilbur. What I don't understand is why such people should be +allowed to exist in this country."</p> +<p>"We're a free people, Selma. I'm a good democrat, but you must +agree that the day-laborer in his muddy garb would not find himself +at ease in a Fifth Avenue drawing-room. On that account shall we +abolish the drawing-room?"</p> +<p>"We are not day-laborers."</p> +<p>"Not precisely; but we have our spurs to win. And, unlike some +people in our respectable, but humble station, we have each other's +love to give us courage to fight the battle of life bravely. I had +a fresh order to-day—and I have bought tickets for to-night +at the theatre."</p> +<h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3> +<p>Almost the first persons at the theatre on whom Selma's eyes +rested were the Gregory Williamses. They were in a box with two +other people, and both Flossy and her husband were talking with the +festive air peculiar to those who are willing to be noticed and +conscious that their wish is being gratified. Flossy wore a gay +bonnet and a stylish frock, supplemented by a huge bunch of +violets, and her husband's evening dress betrayed a slight +exaggeration of the prevailing fashion in respect to his standing +collar and necktie. Selma had never had a thorough look at him +before, and she reflected that he was decidedly impressive and +handsome. His face was full and pleasant, his mustache large and +gracefully curved, and his figure manly. His most distinguishing +characteristic was a dignity of bearing uncommon in so young a man, +suggesting that he carried, if not the destiny of republics on his +shoulders, at least, important financial secrets in his brain. The +man and woman with them were almost elderly and gave the effect of +being strangers to the city. They were Mr. and Mrs. Silas S. +Parsons. Mr. Parsons was a prosperous Western business man, who now +and then visited New York, and who had recently become a customer +of Williams's. He had dealt in the office where Williams was a +clerk, and, having taken a fancy to him, was disposed to help the +new firm. Gregory had invited them to dinner and to the theatre, by +way of being attentive, and had taken a box instead of stalls, in +order to make his civility as magnificent as the occasion would +permit. A box, besides being a delicate testimonial to his guest, +would cause the audience to notice him and his wife and to ask who +they were.</p> +<p>In the gradual development of the social appetite in this +country a certain class has been evolved whose drawing-room is the +floor of the leading theatres. Society consists for them chiefly in +being present often at theatrical performances in sumptuous dress, +not merely to witness the play, but to be participants in a social +function which enhances their self-esteem. To be looked at and to +look on these occasions takes the place with them of balls and +dinner parties. They are not theatregoers in the proper sense, but +social aspirants, and the boxes and stalls are for them an arena in +which for a price they can show themselves in their finery and +attractions, for lack of other opportunities.</p> +<p>Our theatres are now in the full blaze of this harmless +appropriation for quasi-ballroom uses. At the time when Selma was a +New York bride the movement was in its infancy. The people who went +to the theatre for spectacular purposes no less than to see the +actors on the stage were comparatively few in number. Still the +device was practised, and from the very fact that it was not freely +employed, was apt to dazzle the eyes of the uninitiated public more +unreservedly than to-day. The sight of Mrs. Williams in a box, in +the glory of her becoming frock and her violets, caused even so +stern a patriot and admirer of simplicity as Selma to seize her +husband's arm and whisper:</p> +<p>"Look." What is more she caught herself a moment later blushing +with satisfaction on account of the friendly bow which was bestowed +on her.</p> +<p>Wilbur Littleton's ambitions were so definite and congenial that +the sight of his neighbors' splendor neither offended nor irritated +him. He did not feel obliged to pass judgment on them while +deriving amusement from their display, nor did he experience any +qualms of regret that he was not able to imitate them. He regarded +Flossy and her husband with the tolerant gaze of one content to +allow other people to work out their salvation, without officious +criticism, provided he were allowed the same privilege, and ready +to enjoy any features of the situation which appealed to his sense +of humor or to his human sympathy. Flossy's frank, open nod and +ingenuous face won his favor at once, especially as he appreciated +that she and Selma had found each other attractive, and though he +tabooed luxury and fashionable paraphernalia where he was +immediately concerned, it occurred to him that this evidently +wide-awake, vivacious-looking couple might, as friends, introduce +just the right element of variety into their lives. He had no wish +to be a banker himself, nor to hire boxes at the theatre, but he +was disposed to meet half-way these entertaining and gorgeous +neighbors.</p> +<p>Selma, in spite of her wish to watch the play, found her glance +returning again and again to the occupants of the box, though she +endeavored to dispose of the matter by remarking presently that she +could not understand why people should care to make themselves so +conspicuous, particularly as the seats in the boxes were less +desirable for seeing the stage than their own.</p> +<p>"We wouldn't care for it, but probably it's just what they +like," said Wilbur. "Some society reporter may notice them; in +which case we shall see in the Sunday newspaper that Mr. Gregory +Williams and party occupied a private box at the Empire Theatre +last Tuesday evening, which will be another straw toward helping +them to carry out their project of attracting attention. I like the +face of your new friend, my dear. I mean to say that she looks +unaffected and honest, and as if she had a sense of humor. With +those three virtues a woman can afford to have some faults. I +suppose she has hers."</p> +<p>Littleton felt that Selma was disposed to fancy her neighbor, +but was restrained by conscientious scruples due to her dislike for +society concerns. He had fallen in love with and married his wife +because he believed her to be free from and superior to the petty +weaknesses of the feminine social creed; but though extremely proud +of her uncompromising standards, he had begun to fear lest she +might indulge her point of view so far as to be unjust. Her +scornful references from time to time to those who had made money +and occupied fine houses had wounded his own sense of justice. He +had endeavored to explain that virtue was not the exclusive +prerogative of the noble-minded poor, and now he welcomed an +opportunity of letting her realize from personal experience that +society was not so bad as it was painted.</p> +<p>Selma returned Mrs. Williams's call during the week, but did not +find her at home. A few days later arrived a note stamped with a +purple and gold monogram inviting them to dinner. When the evening +arrived they found only a party of four. A third couple had given +out at the last minute, so they were alone with their hosts. The +Williams house in its decoration and upholstery was very different +from their own. The drawing-room was bright with color. The +furniture was covered with light blue plush; there were blue and +yellow curtains, gay cushions, and a profusion of gilt +ornamentation. A bear-skin, a show picture on an easel, and a +variety of florid bric-à-brac completed the brilliant aspect +of the apartment. Selma reflected at once that that this was the +sort of drawing-room which would have pleased her had she been +given her head and a full purse. It suggested her home at Benham +refurnished by the light of her later experience undimmed by the +shadow of economy. On the way down to dinner she noticed in the +corner of the hall a suit of old armor, and she was able to +perceive that the little room on one side of the front door, which +they learned subsequently was Mr. Williams's den, contained +Japanese curiosities. The dinner-table shone with glass and silver +ware, and was lighted by four candles screened by small pink +shades. By the side of Flossy's plate and her own was a small bunch +of violets, and there was a rosebud for each of the men. The +dinner, which was elaborate, was served by two trig maids. There +were champagne and frozen pudding. Selma felt almost as if she were +in fairy-land. She had never experienced anything just like this +before; but her exacting conscience was kept at bay by the +reflection that this must be a further manifestation of the New +York manner, and her self-respect was propitiated by the cordiality +of her entertainers. The conversation was bubbling and +light-hearted on the part of both Mr. and Mrs. Williams. They kept +up a running prattle on the current fads of the day, the theatre, +the doings of well-known social personages, and their own household +possessions, which they naïvely called to the attention of +their guests, that they might be admired. But Selma enjoyed more +than the general conversation her talk with the master of the +house, who possessed all the friendly suavity of his wife and also +the valuable masculine trait of seeming to be utterly absorbed in +any woman to whom he was talking. Gregory had a great deal of +manner and a confidential fluency of style, which gave distinction +even to commonplace remarks. His method did not condescend to +nudging when he wished to note a point, but it fell only so far +short of it as he thought social elegance required. His +conversation presently drifted, or more properly speaking, flowed +into a graphic and frank account of his own progress as a banker. +He referred to past successful undertakings, descanted on his +present roseate responsibilities, and hinted sagely at impending +operations which would eclipse in importance any in which he had +hitherto been engaged. In answer to Selma's questions he discoursed +alluringly concerning the methods of the Stock Exchange, and gave +her to understand that for an intelligent and enterprising man +speculation was the high road to fortune. No doubt for fools and +for people of mediocre or torpid abilities it was a dangerous +trade; but for keen and bold intellects what pursuit offered such +dazzling opportunities?</p> +<p>Selma listened, abhorrent yet fascinated. It worried her to be +told that what she had been accustomed to regard as gambling should +be so quickly and richly rewarded. Yet the fairy scene around her +manifestly confirmed the prosperous language of her host and left +no room for doubt that her neighbors were making brilliant +progress. Apparently, too, this business of speculation and of vast +combinations of railroad and other capital, the details of which +were very vague to her, was, in his opinion, the most desirable and +profitable of callings.</p> +<p>"Do you know," she said, "that I have been taught to believe +that to speculate in stocks is rather dreadful, and that the people +of the country don't approve of it." She spoke smilingly, for the +leaven of the New York manner was working, but she could not +refrain from testifying on behalf of righteousness.</p> +<p>"The people of the country!" exclaimed Gregory, with a smile of +complacent amusement. "My dear Mrs. Littleton, you must not let +yourself be deceived by the Sunday school, Fourth of July, +legislative or other public utterances of the American people. It +isn't necessary to shout it on the house-tops, but I will confide +to you that, whatever they may declaim or publish to the contrary, +the American people are at heart a nation of gamblers. They don't +play little horses and other games in public for francs, like the +French, for the law forbids it, but I don't believe that any one, +except we bankers and brokers, realizes how widely exists the habit +of playing the stock-market. Thousands of people, big and little, +sanctimonious and highly respectable, put up their margins and reap +their profits or their losses. Oh no, the country doesn't approve +of it, especially those who lose. I assure you that the letters +which pass through the post-office from the godly, freeborn voters +in the rural districts would tell an eloquent story concerning the +wishes of the people of the country in regard to speculation."</p> +<p>Flossy was rising from table as he finished, so he accompanied +the close of his statement with a sweeping bow which comported with +his jaunty dignity.</p> +<p>"I am afraid you are a wicked man. You ought not to slander the +American people like that," Selma answered, pleased as she spoke at +the light touch which she was able to impart to her speech.</p> +<p>"It's true. Every word of it is true," he said as she passed +him. He added in a low tone—"I would almost even venture to +wager a pair of gloves that at some time or other your husband has +had a finger in the pie."</p> +<p>"Never," retorted Selma.</p> +<p>"What is that Gregory is saying?" interrupted Flossy, putting +her arm inside Selma's. "I can see by his look that he has been +plaguing you."</p> +<p>"Yes, he has been trying to shatter my ideals, and now he is +trying to induce me to make an odious bet with him."</p> +<p>"Don't, for you would be certain to lose. Gregory is in great +luck nowadays."</p> +<p>"That is evident, for he has had the good fortune to make the +acquaintance of Mrs. Littleton," said Williams gallantly.</p> +<p>The two men were left alone with their cigars. After these were +lighted, as if he were carrying out his previous train of thought, +Gregory remarked, oracularly, at the end of a puff: "Louisville and +Nashville is certain to sell higher."</p> +<p>Littleton looked blank for a moment. He knew so little of stocks +that at first he did not understand what was meant. Then he said, +politely: "Indeed!"</p> +<p>"It is good for a ten-point rise in my opinion," Williams +continued after another puff. He was of a liberal nature, and was +making a present of this tip to his guest in the same spirit of +hospitality as he had proffered the dinner and the champagne. He +was willing to take for granted that Littleton, as a gentleman, +would give him the order in case he decided to buy, which would add +another customer to his list. But his suggestion was chiefly +disinterested.</p> +<p>"I'm afraid I know very little about such matters," Littleton +responded with a smile. "I never owned but ten shares of stock in +my life." Then, by way, perhaps, of showing that he was not +indifferent to all the good things which the occasion afforded, he +said, indicating a picture on the opposite wall: "That is a fine +piece of color."</p> +<p>Williams, having discharged his obligations as a host, was +willing to exchange the stock-market as a topic for his own +capacity as a lightning appreciator and purchaser of objects of +art.</p> +<p>"Yes," he said, urbanely, "that is a good thing. I saw it in the +shop-window, asked the price and bought it. I bought two other +pictures at the same time. 'I'll take that, and that, and that,' I +said, pointing with my cane. The dealer looked astonished. He was +used, I suppose, to having people come in and look at a picture +every day for a fortnight before deciding. When I like a thing I +know it. The three cost me eighteen hundred dollars, and I paid for +them within a week by a turn in the market."</p> +<p>"You were very fortunate," said Littleton, who wished to seem +sympathetic.</p> +<p>Meanwhile the two wives had returned to the drawing-room arm in +arm, and established themselves on one of those small sofas for +two, constructed so that the sitters are face to face. They had +taken a strong fancy to each other, especially Flossy to Selma, and +in the half hour which followed they made rapid progress toward +intimacy. Before they parted each had agreed to call the other by +her Christian name, and Selma had confided the story of her +divorce. Flossy listened with absorbed interest and murmured at the +close:</p> +<p>"Who would have thought it? You look so pure and gentle and +refined that a man must have been a brute to treat you like that. +But you are happy now, thank goodness. You have a husband worthy of +you."</p> +<p>Each had a host of things still unsaid when Littleton and +Williams joined them.</p> +<p>"Well, my dear," said Wilbur as they left the house, "that was a +sort of Arabian Nights entertainment for us, wasn't it? A little +barbaric, but handsome and well intentioned. I hope it didn't shock +you too much."</p> +<p>"It struck me as very pleasant, Wilbur. I think I am beginning +to understand New York a little better. Every thing costs so much +here that it seems necessary to make money, doesn't it? I don't see +exactly how poor people get along. Do you know, Mr. Williams wished +to bet me a pair of gloves that you buy stocks sometimes."</p> +<p>"He would have lost his bet."</p> +<p>"So I told him at once. But he didn't seem to believe me. I was +sure you never did. He appears to be very successful; but I let him +see that I knew it was gambling. You consider it gambling, don't +you?"</p> +<p>"Not quite so bad as that. Some stock-brokers are gamblers; but +the occupation of buying and selling stocks for a commission is a +well recognized and fashionable business."</p> +<p>"Mr. Williams thinks that a great many Americans make money in +stocks—that we are gamblers as a nation."</p> +<p>"I am, in my heart, of the same opinion."</p> +<p>"Oh, Wilbur. I find you are not so good a patriot as I +supposed."</p> +<p>"I hate bunkum."</p> +<p>"What is that?"</p> +<p>"Saying things for effect, and professing virtue which we do not +possess."</p> +<p>Selma was silent a moment. "What does champagne cost a +bottle?"</p> +<p>"About three dollars and a half."</p> +<p>"Do you really think their house barbaric?"</p> +<p>"It certainly suggests to me heterogeneous barbaric splendor. +They bought their upholstery as they did their pictures, with +free-handed self-confidence. Occasionally they made a brilliant +shot, but oftener they never hit the target at all."</p> +<p>"I think I like brighter colors than you do, Wilbur," mused +Selma. "I used to consider things like that as wrong; but I suppose +that was because our fathers wished Europe to understand that we +disapproved of the luxury of courts and the empty lives of the +nobility. But if people here with purpose have money, it would seem +sensible to furnish their houses prettily."</p> +<p>"Subject always to the crucifying canons of art," laughed +Littleton. "I'm glad you're coming round to my view, Selma. Only I +deny the ability of the free-born American, with the overflowing +purse, to indulge his newly acquired taste for gorgeous effects +without professional assistance."</p> +<p>"I suppose so. I can see that their house is crude, though I do +think that they have some handsome things. It must be interesting +to walk through shops and say: 'I'll take that,' just because it +pleases you."</p> +<p>During her first marriage Selma had found the problem of dollars +and cents a simple one. The income of Lewis Babcock was always +larger than the demands made upon it, and though she kept house and +was familiar with the domestic disbursements, questions of +expenditure solved themselves readily. She had never been obliged +to ask herself whether they could afford this or that outlay. Her +husband had been only too eager to give her anything she desired. +Consideration of the cost of things had seemed to her beneath her +notice, and as the concern of the providing man rather than the +thoughtful American wife and mother. After she had been divorced +the difficulty in supplying herself readily with money had been a +dismaying incident of her single life. Dismaying because it had +seemed to her a limitation unworthy of her aspirations and +abilities. She had married Littleton because she believed him her +ideal of what a man should be, but she had been glad that he would +be able to support her and exempt her from the necessity of asking +what things cost.</p> +<p>By the end of their first year and a half of marriage, Selma +realized that this necessity still stood, almost like a wolf at the +door, between her and the free development of her desires and +aspirations. New York prices were appalling; the demands of life in +New York still more so. They had started house-keeping on a more +elaborate scale than she had been used to in Benham. As Mrs. +Babcock she had kept one hired girl; but in her new kitchen there +were two servants, in deference to the desire of Littleton, who did +not wish her to perform the manual work of the establishment. Men +rarely appreciate in advance to the full extent the extra cost of +married life, and Littleton, though intending to be prudent, found +his bills larger than he had expected. He was able to pay them +promptly and without worry, but he was obliged to make evident to +Selma that the margin over and above their carefully considered +expenses was very small. The task of watching the butcher's book +and the provision list, and thinking twice before making any new +outlay, was something she had not bargained for. All through her +early life as a girl, the question of money had been kept in the +background by the simplicity of her surroundings. In her country +town at home they had kept no servants. A woman relative had done +the work, and she had been free to pursue her mental interests and +devote herself to her father. She had thought then that the +existence of domestic servants was an act of treason against the +institutions of the country by those who kept them. Yet she had +accepted, with glee, the hired-girl whom Babcock had provided, +satisfying her own democratic scruples by dubbing her "help," and +by occasionally offering her a book to read or catechising her as +to her moral needs. There is probably no one in the civilized world +more proud of the possession of a domestic servant than the +American woman who has never had one, and no one more prompt to +consign her to the obscurity of the kitchen after a feeble pretence +at making her feel at home. Selma was delighted to have two instead +of one, and, after beholding Mrs. Williams's trig maids, was eager +to see her own arrayed in white caps and black alpaca dresses. Yet, +though she had become keen to cultivate the New York manner, and +had succeeded in reconciling her conscience to the possession of +beautiful things by people with a purpose, it irked her to feel +that she was hampered in living up to her new-found faith by the +bugbear of a lean purse. She had expected, as Wilbur's wife, to +figure quickly and gracefully in the van of New York intellectual +and social progress. Instead, she was one among thousands, living +in a new and undeveloped locality, unrecognized by the people of +whom she read in the newspapers, and without opportunities for +displaying her own individuality and talents. It depressed her to +see the long lines of houses, street after street, and to think +that she was merely a unit, unknown by name, in this great sea of +humanity—she, Selma Littleton, free-born American, conscious +of virtue and power. This must not be; and she divined clearer and +clearer every day that it need not be if she had more money.</p> +<p>It began to be annoying to her that Wilbur's professional +progress was not more rapid. To be sure he had warned her that he +could not hope to reach the front rank at once; that recognition +must be gradual; and that he must needs work slowly in order to do +himself justice. She had accepted this chiefly as a manifestation +of modesty, not doubting that many orders would be forthcoming, +especially now that he had the new stimulus of her love and +inspiration. Instead there had been no marked increase in the +number of his commissions; moreover he had been unsuccessful in two +out of three competitions for minor public buildings for which he +had submitted designs. From both the pecuniary and professional +point of view these failures had been a disappointment. He was in +good spirits and obviously happy, and declared that he was doing as +well as he could reasonably expect; yet on his discouraged days he +admitted that the cost of retaining his draughtsmen was a drain on +the profit side of his ledger.</p> +<p>In contrast with this the prosperity of her neighbors the +Williamses was a little hard to bear. The sudden friendship +developed into neighborly intimacy, and she and Flossy saw much of +each other, dropping in familiarly, and often walking and shopping +together. The two men were on sufficiently cordial terms, each +being tolerant of the other's limitations, and seeking to recognize +his good points for the sake of the bond between their wives. The +return dinner was duly given, and Selma, hopeless of imitating the +barbaric splendor, sought refuge in the reflection that the +æsthetic and intellectual atmosphere of her table would atone +for the lack of material magnificence, and limited her efforts to a +few minor details such as providing candles with colored shades and +some bonbon dishes. It was plain that Flossy admired her because +she recognized her to be a fine and superior soul, and the +appreciation of this served to make it more easy not to repine at +the difference between their entertainments. Still the constant +acquisition of pretty things by her frank and engaging friend was +an ordeal which only a soul endowed with high, stern democratic +faith and purpose could hope to endure with equanimity. Flossy +bought new adornments for her house and her person with an amiable +lavishness which required no confession to demonstrate that her +husband was making money. She made the confession, though, from +time to time with a bubbling pride, never suspecting that it could +harass or tempt her spiritual looking friend. She prattled +artlessly of theatre parties followed by a supper at one of the +fashionable restaurants, and of new acquaintances whom she +entertained, and through whom her social circle was enlarged, +without divining that the sprightly narration was a thorn in the +flesh of her hearer. Selma was capricious in her reception of these +reports of progress. At times she listened to them with grave, cold +eyes, which Flossy took for signals of noble disdain and sought to +deprecate by wooing promises to be less worldly. At others she +asked questions with a feverish, searching curiosity, which +stimulated Mrs. Williams's free and independent style into running +commentaries on the current course of social events and the doings +and idiosyncracies of contemporary leaders of fashion whom she had +viewed from afar. One afternoon Selma saw from her window Flossy +and her husband drive jubilantly away in a high cart with yellow +wheels drawn by a sleek cob, and at the same moment she became +definitely aware that her draught from the cup of life had a bitter +taste. Why should these people drive in their own vehicle rather +than she? It seemed clear to her that Wilbur could not be making +the best use of his talents, and that she had both a grievance +against him and a sacred duty to perform in his and her own behalf. +Justice and self-respect demanded that their mutual light should no +longer be hid under a bushel.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER V.</h3> +<p>Pauline Littleton was now established in her new lodgings. +Having been freed by her brother's marriage from the +responsibilities of a housewife, she was able to concentrate her +attention on the work in which she was interested. Her classes +absorbed a large portion of her time. The remainder was devoted to +writing to girls in other cities who sought her advice in regard to +courses of study, and to correspondence, consultation, and +committee meetings with a group of women in New York and elsewhere, +who like herself were engrossed in educational matters. She was +glad to have the additional time thus afforded her for pursuing her +own tastes, and the days seemed too short for what she wished to +accomplish. She occupied two pleasant rooms within easy walking +distance of her brother's house. Her classes took her from home +four days in the week, and two mornings in every seven were spent +at her desk with her books and papers, in the agreeable labor of +planning and correspondence.</p> +<p>Naturally one of her chief desires was to be on loving terms +with her brother's wife, and to do everything in her power to add +to Selma's happiness. She summoned her women friends to meet her +sister-in-law at afternoon tea. All of these called on the bride, +and some of them invited her to their houses. They were busy women +like Pauline herself, intent in their several ways on their +vocations or avocations. They were disposed to extend the right +hand of fellowship to Mrs. Littleton, whom they without exception +regarded as interesting in appearance, but they had no leisure for +immediate intimacy with her. Having been introduced to her and +having scheduled her in their minds as a new and desirable +acquaintance, they went their ways, trusting chiefly to time to +renew the meeting and to supply the evidence as to the stranger's +social value. Busy people in a large city are obliged to argue that +new-comers should win their spurs, and that great minds, valuable +opinions, and moving social graces are never crushed by inhumanity, +but are certain sooner or later to gain recognition. Therefore +after being very cordial and expressing the hope of seeing more of +her in the future, every one departed and left Selma to her duties +and her opportunities as Littleton's wife, without having the +courtesy to indicate that they considered her a superior woman.</p> +<p>Pauline regarded this behavior on the part of her friends as +normal, and having done her social duty in the afternoon tea line, +without a suspicion that Selma was disappointed by the experience, +she gave herself up to the congenial undertaking of becoming +intimate with her sister-in-law. She ascribed Selma's reserve, and +cold, serious manner partly to shyness due to her new surroundings, +and partly to the spiritual rigor of the puritan conscience and +point of view. She had often been told that individuals of this +temperament possessed more depth of character than more emotional +and socially facile people, and she was prepared to woo. In +comparison with Wilbur, Pauline was accustomed to regard herself as +a practical and easy-going soul, but she was essentially a woman of +fine and vigorous moral and mental purpose. Like many of her +associates in active life, however, she had become too occupied +with concrete possibilities to be able to give much thought to her +own soul anatomy, and she was glad to look up to her brother's wife +as a spiritual superior and to recognize that the burden lay on +herself to demonstrate her own worthiness to be admitted to close +intimacy on equal terms. Wilbur was to her a creature of light, and +she had no doubt that his wife was of the same ethereal +composition.</p> +<p>Pauline was glad, too, of the opportunity really to know a +countrywoman of a type so different from her own friends. She, like +Wilbur, had heard all her life of these interesting and inspiring +beings; intense, marvellously capable, peerless, free-born +creatures panoplied in chastity and endowed with congenital mental +power and bodily charms, who were able to cook, educate children, +control society and write literature in the course of the day's +employment. The newspapers and popular opinion had given her to +understand that these were the true Americans, and caused her to +ask herself whether the circle to which she herself belonged was +not retrograde from a nobler ideal. In what way she did not +precisely understand, except that she and her friends did not +altogether disdain nice social usages and conventional womanly +ways. But, nevertheless, the impression had remained in her mind +that she must be at fault somehow, and it interested her that she +would now be able to understand wherein she was inferior.</p> +<p>She went to see Selma as often as she could, and encouraged her +to call at her lodgings on the mornings when she was at home, +expecting that it might please her sister-in-law to become familiar +with the budding educational enterprises, and that thus a fresh +bond of sympathy would be established between them. Selma presented +herself three or four times in the course of the next three months, +and on the first occasion expressed gratifying appreciation of the +cosiness of the new lodgings.</p> +<p>"I almost envy you," she said, "your freedom to live your own +life and do just what you like. It must be delightful away up here +where you can see over the tops of the houses and almost touch the +sky, and there is no one to disturb the current of your thoughts. +It must be a glorious place to work and write. I shall ask you to +let me come up here sometimes when I wish to be alone with my own +ideas."</p> +<p>"As often as you like. You shall have a pass key."</p> +<p>"I should think," said Selma, continuing to gaze, with her far +away look, over the vista of roofs which the top story of the +apartment house commanded, "that you would be a great deal happier +than if you had married him."</p> +<p>The pause which ensued caused her to look round, and add +jauntily, "I have heard, you know, about Dr. Page."</p> +<p>A wave of crimson spread over Pauline's face—the crimson +of wounded surprise, which froze Selma's genial intentions to the +core.</p> +<p>"I didn't think you'd mind talking about it," she said +stiffly.</p> +<p>"There's nothing to talk about. Since you have mentioned it, Dr. +Page is a dear friend of mine, and will always continue to be, I +hope."</p> +<p>"Oh, I knew you were nothing but friends now," Selma answered. +She felt wounded in her turn. She had come with the wish to be +gracious and companionable, and it had seemed to her a happy +thought to congratulate Pauline on the wisdom of her decision. She +did not like people who were not ready to be communicative and +discuss their intimate concerns.</p> +<p>The episode impaired the success of the first morning visit. At +the next, which occurred a fortnight later, Pauline announced that +she had a piece of interesting news.</p> +<p>"Do you know a Mr. Joel Flagg in Benham?"</p> +<p>"I know who he is," said Selma. "I have met his daughter."</p> +<p>"It seems he has made a fortune in oil and real estate, and is +desirous to build a college for women in memory of his mother, +Sarah Wetmore. One of my friends has just received a letter from a +Mrs. Hallett Taylor, to whom Mr. Flagg appears to have applied for +counsel, and who wishes some of us who are interested in +educational matters to serve as an advisory committee. Probably you +know Mrs. Taylor too?"</p> +<p>"Oh yes. I have been at her house, and I served with her on the +committee which awarded Wilbur the church."</p> +<p>"Why, then you are the very person to tell us all about her. I +think I remember now having heard Wilbur mention her name."</p> +<p>"Wilbur fancied her, I believe."</p> +<p>"Your tone rather implies that you did not. You must tell me +everything you know. My friend has corresponded with her before in +regard to some artistic matters, but she has never met her. Her +letter suggests a lady."</p> +<p>"I dare say you would like Mrs. Taylor," said Selma, gravely. +"She is attractive, I suppose, and seemed to know more or less +about European art and pictures, but we in Benham didn't consider +her exactly an American. If you really wish to know my opinion, I +think that she was too exclusive a person to have fine ideas."</p> +<p>"That's a pity."</p> +<p>"If she lived in New York she would like to be one of those +society ladies who live on Fifth Avenue; only she hasn't really any +conception of what true elegance is. Her house there, except for +the ornaments she had bought abroad, was not so well furnished as +the one I lived in. I wonder what she would think if she could look +into the drawing-room of my friend Mrs. Williams."</p> +<p>"I see," said Pauline, though in truth she was puzzled. "I am +sorry if she is a fine lady, but people like that, when they become +interested, are often excellent workers. It is a noble gift of Mr. +Flagg's—$500,000 as a foundation fund. He's a good American +at all events. Wilbur must certainly compete for the buildings, and +his having first met you there ought to be an inspiration to him to +do fine work."</p> +<p>Selma had been glad of the opportunity to criticise Mrs. Hallett +Taylor, whom she had learned, by the light of her superior social +knowledge, to regard as an unimportant person. Yet she had been +conscious of a righteous impulse in saying what she thought of her. +She knew that she had never liked Mrs. Taylor, and she was not +pleased to hear that Mr. Flagg had selected her from among the +women of Benham to superintend the administration of his splendid +gift. Benham had come to seem to her remote and primitive, yet she +preferred, and was in the mood, to think that it represented the +principles which were dear to her, and that she had been +appreciated there far better than in her present sphere. She was +still tied to Benham by correspondence with Mrs. Earle. Selma had +written at once to explain her sudden departure, and letters passed +between them at intervals of a few weeks—letters on Selma's +part fluent with dazzled metropolitan condescension, yet containing +every now and then a stern charge against her new fellow-citizens +on the score of levity and worldliness.</p> +<p>The donation for the establishment of Wetmore College was made +shortly after another institution for the education of women in +which Pauline was interested—Everdean College—had been +opened to students. The number of applicants for admission to +Everdean had been larger than the authorities had anticipated, and +Pauline, who had been one of the promoters and most active workers +in raising funds for and supervising the construction of this labor +of love, was jubilant over the outlook, and busy in regard to a +variety of new matters presented for solution by the suddenly +evolved needs of the situation. Among these was the acquisition of +two or three new women instructors; and it occurred to Pauline at +once that Selma might know of some desirable candidate. Selma +appeared to manifest but little interest in this inquiry at the +time, but a few months subsequent to their conversation in regard +to Mrs. Taylor she presented herself at Pauline's rooms one morning +with the announcement that she had found some one. Pauline, who was +busy at her desk, asked permission to finish a letter before +listening; so there was silence for a few minutes, and Selma, who +wore a new costume of a more fashionable guise than her last, +reflected while she waited that the details of such work as +occupied her sister-in-law must be tedious. Indeed, she had begun +to entertain of late a sort of contempt for the deliberate, delving +processes of the Littletons. She was inclined to ask herself if +Wilbur and Pauline were not both plodders. Her own idea of doing +things was to do them quickly and brilliantly, arriving at +conclusions, as became an American, with prompt energy and +despatch. It seemed to her that Wilbur, in his work, was slow and +elaborate, disposed to hesitate and refine instead of producing +boldly and immediately. And his sister, with her studies and +letter-writing, suggested the same wearisome tendency. Why should +not Wilbur, in his line, act with the confident enterprise and +capacity to produce immediate, ostensible results which their +neighbor, Gregory Williams, displayed? As for Pauline, of course +she had not Wilbur's talent and could not, perhaps, be expected to +shine conspicuously, but surely she might make more of herself if +only she would cease to spend so much time in details and +cogitation, with nothing tangible to show for her labor. Selma +remembered her own experience as a small school teacher, and her +thankfulness at her escape from a petty task unworthy of her +capabilities, and she smiled scornfully to herself, as she sat +waiting, at what she regarded Pauline's willingness to spend her +energies in such inconspicuous, self-effacing work. Indeed, when +Pauline had finished her letter and announced that she was now +entirely at leisure, Selma felt impelled to remark:</p> +<p>"I should think, Pauline, that you would give a course of +lectures on education. We should be glad to have them at our house, +and your friends ought to be able to dispose of a great many +tickets." Such a thing had never occurred to Selma until this +moment, but it seemed to her, as she heard her own words, a +brilliant suggestion, both as a step forward for Pauline and a +social opportunity for herself.</p> +<p>"On education? My dear Selma, you have no idea of the depths of +my ignorance. Education is an enormous subject, and I am just +beginning to realize how little I know concerning it. People have +talked and written about education enough. What we need and what +some of us are trying to do is to study statistics and observe +results. I am very much obliged to you, but I should only make +myself a laughing-stock."</p> +<p>"I don't think you would. You have spent a great deal of time in +learning about education, and you must have interesting things to +say. You are too modest and—don't you think it may be that +you are not quite enterprising enough? A course of lectures would +call public attention to you, and you would get ahead faster, +perhaps. I think that you and Wilbur are both inclined to hide your +light under a bushel. It seems to me that one can be conscientious +and live up to one's ideals without neglecting one's +opportunities."</p> +<p>"The difficulty is," said Pauline, with a laugh, "that I +shouldn't regard it as an opportunity, and I am sure it wouldn't +help me to get ahead, as you call it, with the people I desire to +impress, to give afternoon tea or women-club lectures. I don't know +enough to lecture effectively. As to enterprise, I am busy from +morning until night. What more can a woman do? You mustn't hurry +Wilbur, Selma. All he needs is time to let the world see his +light."</p> +<p>"Very likely. Of course, if you don't consider that you know +enough there is nothing to be said. I thought of it because I used +to lecture in Benham, at the Benham Institute, and I am sure it +helped me to get ahead. I used to think a great deal about +educational matters, and perhaps I will set you the example by +giving some lectures myself."</p> +<p>"That would be very interesting. If a person has new ideas and +has confidence in them, it is natural to wish to let the world hear +them."</p> +<p>Pauline spoke amiably, but she was disposed to regard her sister +with more critical eyes. She felt no annoyance at the patronizing +tone toward herself, but the reference to Wilbur made her blood +rebel. Still she could not bear to harbor distrust against that +grave face with its delicate beauty and spiritualized air, which +was becomingly accommodated to metropolitan conditions by a more +festive bonnet than any which she herself owned. Yet she noticed +that the thin lips had an expression of discontent, and she +wondered why.</p> +<p>Recurring to the errand on which she had come, Selma explained +that she had just received a letter from Benham—from her +friend, Mrs. Margaret Rodney Earle, an authoress and a promulgator +of advanced and original ideas in respect to the cause of +womanhood, asking if she happened to know of an opening for a +gifted young lady in any branch of intellectual work.</p> +<p>"I thought at once of Everdean," said Selma, "and have come to +give you the opportunity of securing her."</p> +<p>Pauline expressed her thanks cordially, and inquired if Mrs. +Earle had referred to the candidate's experience or special fitness +for the duties of the position.</p> +<p>"She writes that she is very clever and gifted. I did not bring +the letter with me, but I think Mrs. Earle's language was that Miss +Bailey will perform brilliantly any duties which may be intrusted +to her."</p> +<p>"That is rather general," said Pauline. "I am sorry that she +didn't specify what Miss Bailey's education has been, and whether +she has taught elsewhere."</p> +<p>"Mrs. Earle wouldn't have recommended her if she hadn't felt +sure that she was well educated. I remember seeing her at the +Benham Institute on one of the last occasions when I was present. +She delivered a whistling solo which every one thought clever and +melodious."</p> +<p>"I dare say she is just the person we are looking for," said +Pauline, leniently. "It happens that Mrs. Grainger—my friend +to whom Mrs. Taylor wrote concerning Mr. Flagg's gift—is to +make Mrs. Taylor a visit at Benham next week, in order to consider +the steps to be taken in regard to Wetmore College. She and Miss +Bailey can arrange to meet, and that will save Miss Bailey the +expense of a journey to New York, at the possible risk of +disappointment."</p> +<p>"I thought," said Selma, "that you would consider yourselves +fortunate to secure her services."</p> +<p>"I dare say we shall be very fortunate, Selma. But we cannot +engage her without seeing her and testing her qualifications."</p> +<p>Selma made no further demur at the delay, but she was obviously +surprised and piqued that her offer should be treated in this +elaborate fashion. She was obliged to acknowledge to herself that +she could not reasonably expect Pauline to make a definite decision +without further inquiry, but she had expected to be able to report +to Mrs. Earle that the matter was as good as settled—that, if +Miss Bailey would give a few particulars as to her accomplishments, +the position would be hers. Surely she and Mrs. Earle were +qualified to choose a school-teacher. Here was another instance of +the Littleton tendency to waste time on unimportant details. She +reasoned that a woman with more wide-awake perceptions would have +recognized the opportunity as unusual, and would have snapped up +Miss Bailey on the spot.</p> +<p>The sequel was more serious. Neither Selma nor Pauline spoke of +the matter for a month. Then it was broached by Pauline, who wrote +a few lines to the effect that she was sorry to report that the +authorities of Everdean, after investigation, had concluded not to +engage the services of Miss Bailey as instructor. When Selma read +the note her cheeks burned with resentment. She regarded the +decision as an affront. Pauline dined with them on the evening of +that day, and at table Selma was cold and formal. When the two +women were alone, Selma said at once, with an attempt at +calmness:</p> +<p>"What fault do you find with my candidate?"</p> +<p>"I think it possible that she might have been satisfactory from +the mere point of scholarship," judicially answered Pauline, who +did not realize in the least that her sister-in-law was offended, +"though Mrs. Grainger stopped short of close inquiry on that score, +for the reason that Miss Bailey failed to satisfy our requirements +in another respect. I don't wish to imply by what I am going to say +anything against her character, or her capacity for usefulness as a +teacher under certain conditions, but I confide to you frankly, +Selma, that we make it an absolute condition in the choice of +instructors for our students that they should be first of all +lady-like in thought and speech, and here it was that she fell +short. Of course I have never seen Miss Bailey, but Mrs. Grainger +reported that she was—er—impossible."</p> +<p>"You mean that your friend does not consider her a lady? She +isn't a society lady, but I did not suppose an American girl would +be refused a position as a teacher for such a reason as that."</p> +<p>"A lady is a lady, whether she is what you term a society lady +or not. Mrs. Grainger told us that Miss Bailey's appearance and +manners did not suggest the womanly refinement which we deem +indispensable in those who are to teach our college students. Five +years ago only scholarship and cleverness were demanded, but +experience has taught the educators of women that this was a +mistake."</p> +<p>"I presume," said Selma, with dramatic scorn, "that Mrs. Hallett +Taylor disapproved of her. I thought there would be some such +outcome when I heard that she was to be consulted."</p> +<p>"Mrs. Taylor's name was not mentioned," answered Pauline, in +astonishment. "I had no idea, Selma, that you regarded this as a +personal matter. You told me that you had seen Miss Bailey but +once."</p> +<p>"I am interested in her because—because I do not like to +see a cruel wrong done. You do not understand her. You allow a +prejudice, a class-prejudice, to interfere with her career and the +opportunity to display her abilities. You should have trusted Mrs. +Earle, Pauline, She is my friend, and she recommended Miss Bailey +because she believed in her. It is a reflection on me and my +friends to intimate that she is not a lady."</p> +<p>She bent forward from the sofa with her hands clasped and her +lips tightly compressed. For a moment she gazed angrily at the +bewildered Pauline, then, as though she had suddenly bethought her +of her New York manner, she drew herself up and said with a forced +laugh—"If the reason you give were not so ridiculous, I +should be seriously offended."</p> +<p>"Offended! Offended with Pauline," exclaimed Littleton, who +entered the room at the moment. "It cannot be that my two guardian +angels have had a falling out." He looked from one to the other +brightly as if it were really a joke.</p> +<p>"It is nothing," said Selma.</p> +<p>"It seems," said Pauline with fervor, "that I have +unintentionally hurt Selma's feelings. It is the last thing in the +world I wish to do, and I trust that when she thinks the matter +over she will realize that I am innocent. I am very, very +sorry."</p> +<h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3> +<p>"Why don't you follow the advice of Mr. Williams and buy some +shares of stock?" asked Selma lightly, yet coaxingly, of her +husband one day in the third year of their marriage. The Williamses +were dining with them at the time, and a statement by Gregory, not +altogether without motive, as to the profits made by several people +who had taken his advice, called forth the question. He and his +wife were amiably inclined toward the Littletons, and were proud of +the acquaintance. Among their other friends they boasted of the +delightful excursions into the literary circle which the intimacy +afforded them. They both would have been pleased to see their +neighbors more amply provided with money, and Gregory, partly at +the instance of Flossy, partly from sheer good-humor in order to +give a deserving but impractical fellow a chance to better himself, +threw out tips from time to time—crumbs from the rich man's +table, but bestowed in a friendly spirit. Whenever they were let +fall, Selma would look at Wilbur hoping for a sign of interest, but +hitherto they had evoked merely a smile of refusal or had been +utterly ignored.</p> +<p>Her own question had been put on several occasions, both in the +company of the tempter and in the privacy of the domestic hearth, +and both in the gayly suggestive and the pensively argumentative +key. Why might they not, by means of a clever purchase in the stock +market, occasionally procure some of the agreeable extra pleasures +of life—provide the ready money for theatres, a larger +wardrobe, trips from home, or a modest equipage? Why not take +advantage of the friendly advice given? Mr. Williams had made clear +that the purchase of stocks on a sufficient margin was no more +reprehensible as a moral proposition than the purchase of cargoes +of sugar, cotton, coffee or tea against which merchants borrowed +money at the bank. In neither instance did the purchaser own +outright what he sought to sell at an advance; merely in one case +it was shares, in the other merchandise. Of course it was foolish +for inexperienced country folk with small means to dabble in stocks +and bonds, but why should not city people who were clever and had +clever friends in the business eke out the cost of living by shrewd +investments? In an old-fashioned sense it might be considered +gambling; but, if it were true, as Wilbur and Mr. Williams both +maintained, that the American people were addicted to speculation, +was not the existence of the habit strong evidence that the +prejudice against it must be ill-founded? The logical and the +patriotic conclusion must needs be that business methods had +changed, and that the American nation had been clever enough to +substitute dealings in shares of stock, and in contracts relating +to cereals and merchandise for the methods of their grandfathers +who delivered the properties in bulk.</p> +<p>To this condensation of Gregory's glib sophistries on the lips +of his wife, Wilbur had seemed to turn a deaf ear. It did not occur +to him, at first, that Selma was seriously in earnest. He regarded +her suggestions of neglected opportunities, which were often +whimsically uttered, as more than half playful—a sort of +make-believe envy of the meteoric progress in magnificence of their +friendly neighbors. He was even glad that she should show herself +appreciative of the merits of civilized comfort, for he had been +afraid lest her ascetic scruples would lead her judgments too far +in the opposite direction. He welcomed them and encouraged her +small schemes to make the establishment more festive and stylish in +appearance, in modest imitation of the splendor next door. But +constant and more sombre reference to the growing fortunes of the +Williamses presently attracted his attention and made him more +observant. His income sufficed to pay the ordinary expenses of +quiet domestic life, and to leave a small margin for carefully, +considered amusements, but he reflected that if Selma were yearning +for greater luxury, he could not afford at present to increase +materially her allowance. It grieved him as a proud man to think +that the woman he loved should lack any thing she desired, and +without a thought of distrust he applied himself more strenuously +to his work, hoping that the sum of his commissions would enable +him presently to gratify some of her hankerings—such, for +instance, as the possession of a horse and vehicle. Selma had +several times alluded with a sigh to the satisfaction there must be +in driving in the new park. Babcock had kept a horse, and the +Williamses now drove past the windows daily in a phaeton drawn by +two iron gray, champing steeds. He said to himself that he could +scarcely blame Selma if she coveted now and then Flossy's fine +possessions, and the thought that she was not altogether happy in +consequence of his failure to earn more kept recurring to his mind +and worried him. No children had been born to them, and he pictured +with growing concern his wife lonely at home on this account, yet +without extra income to make purchases which might enable her to +forget at times that there was no baby in the house. Flossy had two +children, a boy and a girl, two gorgeously bedizened little beings +who were trundled along the sidewalk in a black, highly varnished +baby-wagon which was reputed by the dealer who sold it to Gregory +to have belonged to an English nobleman. Wilbur more than once +detected Selma looking at the babies with a wistful glance. She was +really admiring their clothes, yet the thought of how prettily she +would have been able to dress a baby of her own was at times so +pathetic as to bring tears to her eyes, and cause her to deplore +her own lack of children as a misfortune.</p> +<p>As the weeks slipped away and Wilbur realized that, though he +was gaining ground in his profession, more liberal expenditures +were still out of the question, he reached a frame of mind which +made him yearn for a means of relief. So it happened that, when +Selma asked him once more why he did not follow the advice +proffered and buy some stocks, he replied by smiling at Gregory and +inquiring what he should buy. During the dinner, which had been +pleasant, Wilbur's eye had been attracted by the brilliancy of some +new jewels which Mrs. Williams wore, and he had been conscious of +the wish that he were able to make a present like that to his own +wife.</p> +<p>"You take my breath away. Wonders will never cease," responded +Gregory, while both the women clapped their hands. "But you musn't +buy anything; you must sell," he continued. "VanHorne and I both +came to the conclusion to-day that it is time for a turn on the +short side of the market. When the public are crazy and will buy +any thing, then is the time to let them have all they wish."</p> +<p>"What, then, am I to sell?" asked Wilbur "I am a complete lamb, +you know." He was already sorry that he had consented, but Selma's +manifest interest restrained him from turning the matter into a +joke.</p> +<p>"Leave it all to me," said Williams with a magnificent +gesture.</p> +<p>"But you will need some money from me."</p> +<p>"Not at all. If you would feel better, you may send me a check +or a bond for a thousand dollars. But it isn't necessary in your +case."</p> +<p>"I will bring you in a bond to-morrow—one of the very few +I own."</p> +<p>Wilbur having delivered his security the first thing in the +morning, heard nothing further from Williams for a fortnight. One +day he received a formal account of certain transactions executed +by Williams and VanHorne for Wilbur Littleton, Esq., and a check +for two thousand dollars. The flush which rose to his cheeks was +induced partly by pleasure, partly by shame. His inclination, as he +reflected, was to return the check, but he recognized presently +that this was a foolish idea, and that the only thing to be done +was to deposit it. He wrote a grateful note of acknowledgment to +Williams, and then gave himself up to the agreeable occupation of +thinking what he should buy for Selma with the money. He decided +not to tell her of his good fortune, but to treat her to a +surprise. His first fancy was in favor of jewelry—some +necklace or lustrous ornament for the hair, which would charm the +feminine eye and might make Selma even more beautiful than she +already appeared in evening dress. His choice settled on a horse +and buggy as more genuinely useful. To be sure there was the feed +of the animal to be considered; but he would be able to reserve +sufficient money to cover this cost for some months, and by the end +of that time he would perhaps be able to afford the outlay from his +income. Horse-flesh and vehicles were not in his line, but he +succeeded by investigation in procuring a modest equipment for +seven hundred dollars, which left him three hundred for fodder, and +the other thousand. This he had decided to hand over to Selma as +pin money. It was for her sake that he had consented to speculate, +and it seemed meet that she should have the satisfaction of +spending it.</p> +<p>He carried out his surprise by appearing one afternoon before +the door and inviting her to drive. Selma became radiant at the +news that the horse and buggy were hers, though, when the +particulars of the purchase were disclosed she said to herself that +she wished Wilbur had allowed her to choose the vehicle. She would +have preferred one more stylish and less domestic looking. She +flung her arms about his neck and gave him a kiss on their return +to show her satisfaction.</p> +<p>"You see how easy it is, Wilbur," she said as she surveyed the +check which he had handed her.</p> +<p>"It was not I, it was Williams."</p> +<p>"No, but you could, if you would only think so. I have the +greatest confidence in you, dear," she added, looking eagerly into +his face; "but don't you sometimes go out of your way to avoid what +is enterprising and—er—modern, just because it is +modern?"</p> +<p>"Gambling is as old as the hills, Selma."</p> +<p>"Yes. And if this were gambling—the sort of gambling you +mean, do you think I would allow you to do it? Do you think the +American people would tolerate it for a minute?" she asked +triumphantly.</p> +<p>"It seems to me that your admiration for the American people +sometimes makes you a little weak in your logic," he answered with +good-humor. He was so pleased by Selma's gratification that he was +disposed to exorcise his scruples.</p> +<p>"I have always told you that I was more of a patriot than you, +Wilbur."</p> +<p>The bond had not been returned by Williams at the time he sent +the money, and some fortnight later—only a few days in fact +after this drive, Littleton received another cheque for $500 and a +request that he call at the office.</p> +<p>"I thought you would like to see the instruments of torture at +work—the process of lamb-shearing in active operation," +Williams explained as he shook hands and waved him into his private +room. After a few easy remarks on the methods of doing business the +broker continued, "I flatter myself that for so small an investment +and so short a time, I have done tolerably well for you."</p> +<p>"I scarcely know how to express my thanks and my admiration for +your skill. Indeed I feel rather awkwardly about—"</p> +<p>"That's all right, my dear fellow. It's my business; I get my +commission. Still I admit friendly regard—and this is why I +suggested your dropping in—by introducing the personal +equation, makes one nervous. If instead of closing out your +account, I had in each instance held on, you would have made more +money. I was glad to take this responsibility at first because you +were a neophyte at the business, but I think it will be more +satisfactory both for you and for me that in future transactions +you should give me the word when to reap the profit. Of course you +shall have all the information which I possess and my advice will +be at your command, but where a man's money is concerned his own +head is apt to be the wisest counsellor. Now I took the liberty +yesterday of selling for you two hundred shares of Reading +railroad. You can cover to-day at a profit of one point—about +$200. I do not urge it. On the contrary I believe that the market, +barring occasional rallies, is still on the downward track. I wish, +however, to put you in a position where you can, if you desire, +take advantage of the full opportunities of the financial situation +and save myself from feeling that I have robbed you by my friendly +caution."</p> +<p>"In other words you don't wish to speculate with my money," said +Littleton. "You wish me to paddle my own canoe."</p> +<p>Williams' real desire was to escape the bother of personally +superintending an insignificant account. His circumlocution was a +suave way of stating that he had done all that could be expected of +a neighbor and benevolent friend, and that the ordinary relation of +broker and customer ought now be established. As for Littleton, he +perceived that he was not free to retire from the market on the +profits of friendly regard unless he was prepared to fly in the +face of advice and buy in his two hundred Reading railroad. To do +so would be pusillanimous; moreover to retire and abstain from +further dealings would make Williams' two cheques more obviously a +charitable donation, and the thought of them was becoming galling. +Above all there were Selma's feelings to be considered. The +possession of the means to afford her happiness was already a sweet +argument in favor of further experiments.</p> +<p>And so it happened that during the next nine months Littleton +became a frequenter of the office of Williams & VanHorne. He +was not among those who hung over the tape and were to be seen +there daily; but he found himself attracted as the needle by the +magnet to look in once or twice a week to ascertain the state of +the market. His ventures continued to be small, and were conducted +under the ken of Williams, and though the occasional rallies +referred to by the broker harassed Wilbur's spirit when they +occurred, the policy of selling short proved reasonably +remunerative in the course of half a dozen separate speculations. +In round figures he added another $2,500 to that which Williams had +made for him. The process kept him on pins and needles, and led him +to scan the list of stock quotations before reading anything else +in the newspaper. Selma was delighted at his success, and though he +chose not to tell her the details of his dealings, she watched him +furtively, followed the general tendency of the market, and when +she perceived that he was in good spirits, satisfied sufficiently +her curiosity by questions.</p> +<p>On the strength of this addition to their pecuniary resources, +Selma branched out into sundry mild extravagances. She augmented +her wardrobe, engaged an additional house-maid and a more expensive +cook, and entertained with greater freedom and elaboration. She was +fond of going to the theatre and supping afterward at some +fashionable restaurant where she could show her new plumage and be +a part of the gay, chattering rout at the tables consuming +soft-shelled crabs and champagne. She was gradually increasing her +acquaintance, chiefly among the friends of the Williamses, people +who were fond of display and luxury and who seemed to have plenty +of money. In this connection she was glad to avail herself of the +reputation of belonging to the literary circle, and she conceived +the plan of mingling these new associates with Wilbur's former +set—to her thinking a delightful scheme, which she +inaugurated by means of a dinner party. She included among the +guests Pauline and Dr. Page, and considered that she had acted +gracefully in putting them side by side at table, thus sacrificing +the theory of her entertainment to her feminine interest in +romance. In her opinion it was more than Pauline deserved, and she +was proud of her generosity. There were fourteen in the company, +and after dinner they were regaled by a young woman who had brought +a letter of introduction to Selma from Mrs. Earle, who read from +her own poems. The dinner was given for her, and her seat was +between Wilbur and Mr. Dennison, the magazine editor. Selma had +attended a dinner-party at the Williamses a fortnight earlier where +there had been music in the drawing-room by a ballad-singer at a +cost of $100 (so Flossy had told her in confidence). A poetess +reading from her own works, a guest and not invited in after dinner +on a business footing, appealed to Selma as more American, and less +expensive. She, in her secret soul, would have liked to recite +herself, but she feared to run the gauntlet of the New York manner. +The verses were intense in character and were delivered by the +young woman with a hollow-eyed fervor which, as one of the +non-literary wing of the company stated, made one creep and weep +alternately. There was no doubt that the entertainment was novel +and acceptable to the commercial element, and to Selma it seemed a +delightful reminder of the Benham Institute. She was curious to +know what Mr. Dennison thought, though she said to herself that she +did not really care. She felt that anything free and earnest in the +literary line was likely to be frowned on by the coterie to which +her husband's people belonged. Nevertheless she seized an +opportunity to ask the editor if he did not think the verses +remarkable.</p> +<p>"They are certainly remarkable," answered Mr. Dennison. After a +brief pause he added, "Being a strictly truthful person, Mrs. +Littleton, I do not wish to seek shelter behind the rampart which +your word 'remarkable' affords. A dinner may be +remarkable—remarkably good, like the one I have just eaten, +or remarkably bad. Some editors would have replied to you as I have +done, and yet been capable of a mental reservation unflattering to +the ambitious young woman to whom we have been listening. But +without wishing to express an opinion, let me remind you that +poetry, like point-lace, needs close scrutiny before its merits can +be defined. I thought I recognized some ancient and well-worn +flowers of speech, but my editorial ear and eye may have been +deceived. She has beautiful hair at all events."</p> +<p>"'Fair tresses man's imperial race ensnare;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And beauty draws us by a single +hair.'</span></p> +<p>"You cynical personage! I only hope she may prove a genius and +that you will realize when too late that you might have discovered +her," said Selma, looking into his face brightly with a knowing +smile and tapping her fan against her hand. She was in a gay humor +at the success of the entertainment, despite the non-committal +attitude of this censor, and pleased at the appositeness of her +quotation. Her figure had filled out since her marriage. She was +almost plump and she wore a single short fat curl pendent behind +her ear.</p> +<p>A few months subsequent to this dinner party Flossy announced +one day that Mr. Silas S. Parsons, whom Selma had seen with the +Williamses at the theatre nearly three years before, had come to +live in New York with his wife and daughter. Flossy referred to him +eagerly as one of her husband's most valuable customers, a shrewd, +sensible, Western business man, who had made money in patent +machinery and was superbly rich. He had gone temporarily to a +hotel, but he was intending to build a large house on Fifth Avenue +near the park. Selma heard this announcement with keen interest, +asking herself at once why Wilbur should not be the architect. Why +not, indeed? She promptly reasoned that here was her chance to aid +her husband; that he, if left to his own devices, would do nothing +to attract the magnate's attention, and that it behooved her, as an +American wife and a wide-awake, modern woman, to let Mr. Parsons +know his qualifications, and to prepossess him in Wilbur's favor by +her own attractions. The idea appealed to her exceedingly. She had +been hoping that some opportunity to take an active part in the +furtherance of Wilbur's career would present itself, for she felt +instinctively that with her co-operation he would make more rapid +progress. Here was exactly the occasion longed for. She saw in her +mind's eye Mr. Parsons's completed mansion, stately and beautiful, +the admired precursor of a host of important edifices—a +revolutionizing monument in contemporary architecture. Wilbur would +become the fashion, and his professional success be assured, thanks +to the prompt ability of his wife to take advantage of +circumstances. So she would prove herself a veritable helpmate, and +the bond of marital sympathy would be strengthened and +refreshed.</p> +<p>To begin with, Selma hinted to Mrs. Williams that Mr. Parsons +might do worse than employ Wilbur to design his house. Flossy +accepted the suggestion with enthusiasm and promised her support, +adding that Mr. Parsons was a person of sudden and strong fancies, +and that if he were to take a fancy to Wilbur, the desired result +would be apt to follow. Selma quickly decided that Mr. Parsons must +be made to like her, for she feared lest Wilbur's quiet, +undemonstrative manner would fail to attract him. Evidently he +admired the self-confidence and manly assertion of Gregory +Williams, and would be liable to regard Wilbur as lacking in force +and enterprise. The reflection that she would thus be +working—as necessarily she would—for the eternal +progress of truth, added a pleasant savor to the undertaking, for +it was clear that her husband was an ideal architect for the +purpose, and she would be doing a true service to Mr. Parsons in +convincing him that this was so. Altogether her soul was in an +agreeable flutter, notwithstanding that her neighbor Flossy had +recently received invitations to two or three large balls, and been +referred to in the society columns of the newspapers as the +fascinating and clever wife of the rising banker Gregory +Williams.</p> +<p>The Littletons were promptly given by Flossy the opportunity to +make the acquaintance of the Parsons family. Mr. Parsons was a +ponderous man of over sixty, with a solid, rotund, grave face and a +chin whisker. He was absorbed in financial interests, though he had +retired from active business, and had come to New York to live +chiefly to please his wife and daughter. Mrs. Parsons, who was +somewhat her husband's junior, was a devotee, or more correctly, a +debauchee, of hotel life. Since the time when they had become +exceedingly rich, about ten years before, they had made a grand +tour of the hotels of this country and Europe. By so doing Mrs. +Parsons and her daughter felt that they became a part of the social +life of the cities which they visited. Although they had been used +to plain, if not slovenly, house-keeping before the money came, +both the wife and daughter had evolved into connoisseurs of modish +and luxurious hotel apparatus and garniture. They had learned to +revel in many courses, radiantly upholstered parlors, and a close +acquaintance with the hotel register. Society for them, wherever +they went, meant finding out the names of the other guests and +dressing for them, being on easy terms with the head waiter and +elevator boy, visiting the theatres, and keeping up a round of +shopping in pursuit of articles of apparel. They wore rich garments +and considerable jewelry, and plastered themselves—especially +the daughter—with bunches of violets or roses self-bestowed. +Mrs. Parsons was partial to perfume, and they both were addicted to +the free consumption of assorted bonbons. To be sure they had made +some acquaintances in the course of their peregrinations, but one +reason for moving to New York was that Mrs. Parsons had come to the +melancholy conclusion that neither the princes of Europe nor the +sons of American leading citizens were paying that attention to her +daughter which the young lady's charms seemed to her to merit. If +living lavishly in hotels and seeing everybody right and left were +not the high-road to elegant existence and hence to a brilliant +match for Lucretia, Mrs. Parsons was ready to try the effect of a +house on Fifth Avenue, though she preferred the comforts of her +present mode of life. Still one advantage of a stable home would be +that Mr. Parsons could be constantly with them, instead of an +occasional and intermittent visitor communicated with more +frequently by electricity than by word of mouth. While Mr. Parsons +was selecting the land, she and Lucretia had abandoned themselves +to an orgy of shopping, and with an eye to the new house, their +rooms at the hotel were already littered with gorgeous fabrics, +patterns of wall-paper and pieces of pottery.</p> +<p>Selma's facility in the New York manner was practised on Silas +Parsons with flattering success. He was captivated by +her—more so than by Flossy, who amused him as a +flibbertigibbet, but who seemed to him to lack the serious cast of +character which he felt that he discerned beneath the sprightliness +of this new charmer. Mr. Parsons was what he called a "stickler" +for the dignity of a serious demeanor. He liked to laugh at the +theatre, but mistrusted a daily point of view which savored of +buffoonery. He was fond of saying that more than one public man in +the United States had come to grief politically from being a joker, +and that the American people could not endure flippancy in their +representatives. He liked to tell and listen to humorous stories in +the security of a smoking-room, but in his opinion it behooved a +citizen to maintain a dignified bearing before the world. Like +other self-made men who had come to New York—like Selma +herself—he had shrunk from and deplored at first the lighter +tone of casual speech. Still he had grown used to it, and had even +come to depend on it as an amusement. But he felt that in the case +of Selma there was a basis of ethical earnestness, appropriate to +woman, beneath her chatty flow of small talk. That she was +comparatively a new-comer accounted partially for this impression, +but it was mainly due to the fact that she still reverted after her +sallies of pleasantry to a grave method of deportment.</p> +<p>Selma's chief hospitality toward the Parsonses took the form of +a theatre party, which included a supper at Delmonico's after the +play. It was an expensive kind of entertainment, which she felt +obliged to justify to Wilbur by the assertion that the Williamses +had been so civil she considered it would be only decent to show +attention to their friends. She was unwilling to disclose her +secret, lest the knowledge of it might make Wilbur offish and so +embarrass her efforts. There were eight in the party, and the +affair seemed to Selma to go off admirably. She was enthralled by +the idea of using her own personal magnetism to promote her +husband's business. She felt that it was just the sort of thing she +would like and was fitted for, and that here was an opportunity for +her individuality to display itself. She devoted herself with +engaging assiduity to Mr. Parsons, pleased during the active +process of propitiation by the sub-consciousness that her table was +one of the centres of interest in the large restaurant. She had +dressed herself with formal care, and nothing in the way of +compliment could have gratified her more than the remark which Mr. +Parsons made, as he regarded her appreciatively, when he had +finished his supper, that she suggested his idea of Columbia. Selma +glowed with satisfaction. The comparison struck her as apt and +appropriate, and she replied with a proud erection of her head, +which imparted to her features their transcendental look, and +caused her short curl to joggle tremulously, "I suppose I see what +you mean, Mr. Parsons."</p> +<h3>CHAPTER VII.</h3> +<p>One evening, four or five days after this supper party, Wilbur +laid down the book which he was pretending to read, and said, +"Selma, I have come to the conclusion that I must give up dabbling +in stocks. I am being injured by it—not financially, for, as +you know, I have made a few thousand dollars—but +morally."</p> +<p>"I thought you were convinced that it was not immoral," answered +Selma, in a constrained voice.</p> +<p>"I do not refer to whether speculation is justifiable in itself, +but to its effect on me as an individual—its distraction to +my mind and consequent interference with my professional work."</p> +<p>"Oh."</p> +<p>"For a year now, the greater portion of the time, I have had +some interest in the market, and as a consequence, have felt +impelled to look in on Williams and VanHorne every +day—sometimes oftener. I am unable to dismiss my speculations +from my thoughts. I find myself wondering what has happened to the +stocks I am carrying, and I am satisfied that the practice is +thoroughly demoralizing to my self-respect and to my progress. I am +going to give it up."</p> +<p>"I suppose you must give it up if it affects you like that," +responded Selma drily. "I don't see exactly why it should."</p> +<p>"It may seem foolish to you, but I am unable to put my ventures +out of my mind. The consequences of loss would be so serious to me +that I suppose my imagination becomes unduly active and +apprehensive. Also, I find myself eager to secure large gains. I +must renounce Aladdin's lamp from this day forth, my dear, and +trust to my legitimate business for my income."</p> +<p>Selma folded her hands and looked grave. "It's disappointing +that you feel so just when we are beginning to get on, Wilbur."</p> +<p>"I have realized, Selma, that you have enjoyed +and—er—been made happier by the freedom to spend which +this extra money has afforded you. But I know, when you reflect, +you will understand that I am right, and that it would be +disastrous to both of us if I were to continue to do what I believe +demoralizing. It is a mortification to me to ask you to retrench, +but I said to myself that Selma would be the first to insist on our +doing so if she knew my feelings, and it makes me happy to be sure +of your approval."</p> +<p>Littleton spoke with a tender plaintiveness which betrayed that +in his secret soul he was less confident on this score than his +words declared, or than he himself supposed. "Of course," he added, +earnestly, "I shall hope that it will not make much difference. My +business is slowly, but steadily, improving, and I am doing more +this year than last. I am bending all my energies on my plans for +Wetmore College. If I win in that competition, I shall make a +reputation and a respectable commission."</p> +<p>"You have been on those plans three months."</p> +<p>"Yes, and shall not finish them for another two. I wish to do my +best work, and I shall be glad not to hear quotations of the ticker +in my brain. You desire me to be thorough, surely, Selma +<i>mia</i>?"</p> +<p>"Oh, yes. Only, you know people very often spoil things by +pottering over them."</p> +<p>"I never potter. I reject because I am dissatisfied rather than +offer a design which does not please me, but I do not waste my +time."</p> +<p>"Call it over-conscientiousness then. I wish you to do your best +work, of course, but one can't expect to do best work invariably. +Everything was going so nicely that you must perceive it will be +inconvenient to have to economize as we did before."</p> +<p>Littleton looked at his wife with a glance of loving distress. +"You wouldn't really care a button. I know you wouldn't, Selma," he +said, stoutly.</p> +<p>"Of course not, if it were necessary," she answered. "Only I +don't wish to do so unless it is necessary. I am not controverting +your decision about the stocks, though I think your imagination, as +you say, is to blame. I would rather cut my right hand off than +persuade you to act contrary to your conscience. But it <i>is</i> +inconvenient, Wilbur, you must admit, to give up the things we have +become accustomed to."</p> +<p>"We shall be able to keep the horse. I am certain of that."</p> +<p>"I wish you to see my side of it. Say that you do," she said, +with shrill intensity.</p> +<p>"It is because I do see it that I am troubled, Selma. For myself +I am no happier now than I was when we lived more simply. I can't +believe that you will really find it a hardship to deny yourself +such extravagances as our theatre party last week. Being a man," he +added, after a pause, "I suppose I may not appreciate how important +and seductive some of these social observances appear to a woman, +and heaven knows my chief wish in life is to do everything in my +power to make you happy. You must be aware of that, dearest. I +delight to work hard for your sake. But it seems almost ludicrous +to be talking of social interests to you, of all women. Why, at the +time we were married, I feared that you would cut yourself off from +reasonable pleasures on account of your dislike of everything +frivolous. I remember I encouraged you not to take too ascetic a +view of such things. So I am bound to believe that your side is my +side—that we both will find true happiness in not attempting +to compete with people whose tastes are not our tastes, and whose +aims are not our aims."</p> +<p>"Then you think I have deteriorated," she said, with a superior +smile.</p> +<p>"I think of you as the most conscientious woman I ever met. It +was only natural that you should be spurred by our neighbors, the +Williamses, to make a better showing socially before the world. I +have been glad to see you emulous up to a certain point. You must +realize though, that we cannot keep pace with them, even if we so +desire. Already they are in the public eye. He appears to have made +considerable money, and his views on the stock-market are given +prominence by the press. He and his wife are beginning to be +recognized by people who were ignorant of their existence four +years ago. You told me last week that Mrs. Williams had attended +one of the fashionable balls, and I saw in yesterday's newspaper a +description of her toilette at another. It begins to look as if, in +a few years more, their ambition might be realized, and the doors +of the Morton Price mansion open wide to admit this clever country +cousin to the earthly paradise. It must be evident to you, Selma, +that very shortly we shall see only the dust of their +chariot-wheels in the dim social distance. Williams told me to-day +that he has bought a house near the park."</p> +<p>"He has bought a new house? They are going to move?" exclaimed +Selma, sitting up straight, and with a fierce light in her +eyes.</p> +<p>"Yes. He was going home to tell his wife. It seems that they +have been talking vaguely of moving for some time. An acquaintance +happened to offer him a house, and Williams closed the bargain on +the spot in his customary chain-lightning style. I shall be sorry +to have them go on some accounts, for they have always been +friendly, and you seem fond of the wife, but we shall find it +easier, perhaps, when they are gone, to live according to our own +ideas."</p> +<p>"Flossy has not been quite so nice lately," said Selma; "I am +afraid she is disposed to put on airs."</p> +<p>"Her head may have been turned by her success. She has a kind +heart, but a giddy brain in spite of its cleverness."</p> +<p>"Flossy has been getting on, of course. But so are we getting +on. Why should they be recognized, as you call it, any more than +we? In time, I mean. Not in the same way, perhaps, since you don't +approve of the sort of things—"</p> +<p>"Since I don't approve? Why, Selma, surely—"</p> +<p>"Since <i>we</i> don't approve, then. I only mean that Gregory +Williams has shown initiative, has pushed ahead, and +is—er—the talk of the town. I expect you to be +successful, too. Is there any reason on earth why the door of the +Morton Prices should open wide to her and not to me?"</p> +<p>"I suppose not, if—if you wish it."</p> +<p>She made a gesture of impatience and gazed at him a moment with +an imperious frown, then suddenly, with the litheness of a cat, she +slipped from her chair to the floor at his feet, and leaning +against his knee, looked up into his face.</p> +<p>"You dear boy, I am going to tell you something. You said to me +once that if ever the time came when I thought you visionary, I was +to let you know. Of course I understand you are worth a thousand +<i>Gregorys</i>; but don't you think you would get on faster if you +were a little more aggressive in your work?—if you weren't so +afraid of being superficial or sensational? You were intimating a +few minutes ago," she added, speaking rapidly under the stress of +the message she burned to deliver, "that I seemed changed. I don't +believe I am changed. But, if I seem different, it is because I +feel so strongly that those who wish to succeed must assert +themselves and seize opportunities. There is where it seems to me +that Mr. Williams has the advantage over you, Wilbur. One of the +finest and most significant qualities of our people, you know, is +their enterprise and aggressiveness. Architecture isn't like the +stock business, but the same theory of progress must be applicable +to both. Don't you think I may be right, Wilbur? Don't you see what +I mean?"</p> +<p>He stroked her hair and answered gently, "What is it that I am +not doing which you think I might do?"</p> +<p>Selma snuggled close to him, and put her hand in his. She was +vibrating with the proud consciousness of the duty vouchsafed to +her to guide and assist the man she loved. It was a blissful and a +precious moment to her. "If I were you," she said, solemnly, "I +should build something striking and original, something which would +make everyone who beheld it ask, 'what is the architect's name?' I +would strike out boldly without caring too much what the critics +and the people of Europe would say. You musn't be too afraid, +Wilbur, of producing something American, and you mustn't be too +afraid of the American ways of doing things. We work more quickly +here in everything, and—and I still can't help feeling that +you potter a little. Necessarily I don't know about the details of +your business, but if I were you, instead of designing small +buildings or competing for colleges and churches, where more than +half the time someone else gets the award, I should make friends +with the people who live in those fine houses on Fifth Avenue, and +get an order to design a splendid residence for one of them. If you +were to make a grand success of that, as you surely would, your +reputation would be made. You ask me why I like to entertain and am +willing to know people like that. It is to help you to get clients +and to come to the front professionally. Now isn't that sensible +and practical and right, too?"</p> +<p>Her voice rang triumphantly with the righteousness of her +plea.</p> +<p>"Selma, dear, if I am not worldly-wise enough, I am glad to +listen to your suggestions. But art is not to be hurried. I cannot +vulgarize my art. I could not consent to that."</p> +<p>"Of course not, Wilbur. Not worldly-wise enough is just the +phrase, I think. You are so absorbed in the theory of fine things +that I am sure you often let the practical opportunities to get the +fine things to do slip."</p> +<p>"Perhaps, dear. I will try to guard against it." Wilbur took her +hands in his and looked down tenderly into her face. His own was a +little weary. "Above everything else in life I wish, to make you +happy," he said.</p> +<p>"I am happy, you dear boy."</p> +<p>"Truly?"</p> +<p>"Yes, truly. And if something happens which I am nearly sure +will happen, I shall be happier still. It's a secret, and I mustn't +tell you, but if it does happen, you can't help agreeing that your +wife has been clever and has helped you in your profession."</p> +<p>"Helped me? Ah, Selma," he said, folding her in his arms, "I +don't think you realize how much you are to me. In this modern +world, what with self-consciousness, and shyness and contemporary +distaste for fulsome expression, it is difficult to tell adequately +those we love how we feel toward them. You are my darling and my +inspiration. The sun rises and sets with you, and unless you were +happy, I could never be. Each man in this puzzling world must live +according to his own lights, and I, according to mine, am trying to +make the most of myself, consistent with self-respect and avoidance +of the low human aims and time-serving methods upon which our new +civilization is supposed to frown. If I am neglecting my lawful +opportunities, if I am failing to see wisely and correctly, I shall +be grateful for counsel. Ah, Selma, for your sake, even more than +for my own, I grieve that we have no children. A baby's hands +would, I fancy, be the best of counsellors and enlighteners."</p> +<p>"If children had come at first, it would have been very nice. +But now—now I think they might stand in the way of my being +of help to you. And I am so anxious to help you, Wilbur."</p> +<p>As a result of this conversation Littleton devoted himself more +assiduously than ever to his work. He was eager to increase his +earnings so that his income should not be curtailed by his decision +to avoid further ventures in the stock-market. He was troubled in +soul, for Selma's accusation that he was visionary haunted him. +Could it be that he was too scrupulous, too uncompromising, and +lacked proper enterprise? Self-scrutiny failed to convince him that +this was so, yet left a lurking doubt which was harassing. His +clear mind was too modest to believe in its own infallibility, for +he was psychologist enough to understand that no one can be +absolutely sure that his perspective of life is accurate. Possibly +he was sacrificing his wife's legitimate aspirations to too rigid +canons of behavior, and to an unconscious lack of initiative. On +the other hand, as a positive character, he believed that he saw +clearly, and he could not avoid the reflection that, if this was +the case, he and Selma were drifting apart—the more bitter +alternative of the two, and a condition which, if perpetuated, +would involve the destruction of the scheme of matrimonial +happiness, the ideal communion of two sympathetic souls, in which +he was living as a proud partner. Apparently he was in one of two +predicaments; either he was self deceived, which was abhorrent to +him as a thoughtful grappler with the eternal mysteries, or he had +misinterpreted the character of the woman whose transcendent +quality was a dearer faith to him than the integrity of his own +manhood.</p> +<p>So it was with a troubled heart that he applied himself to more +rigorous professional endeavor. Like most architects he had pursued +certain lines of work because orders had come to him, and the +chances of employment had ordained that his services should be +sought for small churches, school-houses and kindred buildings in +the surrounding country rather than for more elaborate and costly +structures. On these undertakings it was his habit to expend +abundant thought and devotion. The class of work was to his taste, +for, though the funds at his disposal were not always so large as +he desired for artistic effects, yet he enjoyed the opportunity of +showing that simplicity need not be homely and disenchanting, but +could wear the aspect of grace and poetry. Latterly he had been +requested to furnish designs for some blocks of houses in the +outlying wards of the city, where the owners sought to provide +attractive, modern flats for people with moderate means. Various +commissions had come to him, also, to design decorative work, which +interested him and gave scope to his refined and aspiring +imagination, and he was enthusiastically absorbed in preparing his +competitive plans for the building of Wetmore College. His time was +already well occupied by the matters which he had in hand. That is, +he had enough to do and yet did not feel obliged to deny himself +the luxury of deliberate thoroughness in connection with each +professional undertaking. Save for the thought that he must needs +earn more in order to please Selma, he would have been completely +happy in the slow but flattering growth of his business, and in +feeling his way securely toward greater success. Now, however, he +began to ask himself if it were not possible to hasten this or that +piece of work in order to afford himself the necessary leisure for +new employment. He began also to consider whether he might not be +able, without loss of dignity, to put himself in the way of +securing more important clients. To solicit business was not to be +thought of, but now and again he put the question to himself +whether he had not been too indifferent as to who was who, and what +was what, in the development of his business.</p> +<p>While Littleton was thus mulling over existing conditions, and +subjecting his conduct to the relentless lens of his own conscience +and theories, Selma announced to him jubilantly, about a fortnight +subsequent to their conversation, that her secret was a secret no +longer, and that Mr. Parsons desired to employ him to build an +imposing private residence on Fifth Avenue near the Park. Mr. +Parsons confirmed this intelligence on the following day in a +personal interview. He informed Littleton that he was going to +build in order to please his wife and daughter, and intimated that +expense need not stand in the way of the gratification of their +wishes. After the business matters were disposed of he was +obviously ready to intrust all the artistic details to his +architect. Consequently Littleton enjoyed an agreeable quarter of +an hour of exaltation. He was pleased at the prospect of building a +house of this description, and the hope of being able to give free +scope to his architectural bent without molestation made that +prospect roseate. He could desire no better opportunity for +expressing his ideas and proving his capacity. It was an ideal +chance, and his soul thrilled as he called up the shadowy fabric of +scheme after scheme to fill the trial canvas of his fantasy. Nor +did he fail to award due credit to Selma for her share in the +transaction; not to the extent, perhaps, of confessing incapacity +on his own part, but by testifying lovingly to her cleverness. She +was in too good humor at her success to insist on his humiliation +in set terms. The two points in which she was most vitally +interested—the advantage of her own interference and the +consequent prompt extension of her husband's field of +usefulness—had been triumphantly proved, and there was no +need that the third—Wilbur's lack of capacity to battle and +discriminate for himself—should be emphasized. Selma knew +what she thought in her own mind, and she entertained the hope that +this lesson might be a lamp to his feet for future illumination. +She was even generous enough to exclaim, placing her hands on his +shoulders and looking into his face with complacent fervor:</p> +<p>"You might have accomplished it just as well yourself, +Wilbur."</p> +<p>Littleton shook his head and smiled. "It was a case of witchery +and fascination. He probably divined how eager you were to help me, +and he was glad to yield to the agreeable spell of your wifely +devotion."</p> +<p>"Oh, no," said Selma. "I am sure he never guessed for one moment +of what I was thinking. Of course, I did try to make him like me, +but that was only sensible. To make people like one is the way to +get business, I believe."</p> +<p>Littleton's quarter of an hour of exaltation was rudely checked +by a note from Mrs. Parsons, requesting an interview in regard to +the plans. When he presented himself he found her and her daughter +imbued with definite ideas on the subject of architects and +architecture. In the eyes of Mrs. Parsons the architect of her +projected house was nothing but a young man in the employ of her +husband, who was to guide them as to measurements, carpentry, +party-walls and plumbing, but was otherwise to do her bidding for a +pecuniary consideration, on the same general basis as the waiter at +the hotel or the theatre ticket-agent. As to architecture, she +expected him to draw plans just as she expected dealers in carpets +or wall-papers to show her patterns in easy succession. "I don't +care for that; take it away." "That is rather pretty, but let me +see something else." What she said to Littleton was, "We haven't +quite decided yet what we want, but, if you'll bring some plans the +next time you call, we'll let you know which we like best. There's +a house in Vienna I saw once, which I said at the time to Lucretia +I would copy if I ever built. I've mislaid the photograph of it, +but I may be able to tell you when I see your drawings how it +differed from yours. Lucretia has a fancy for something Moorish or +Oriental. I guess Mr. Parsons would prefer brown-stone, plain and +massive, but he has left it all to us, and both daughter and I +think we'd rather have a house which would speak for itself, and +not be mixed up with everybody else's. You'd better bring us half a +dozen to choose from, and between me and you and Lucretia, we'll +arrive at something elegant and unique."</p> +<p>This was sadly disillusionizing to Littleton, and the second +experience was no less so. The refined outline sketches proffered +by him were unenthusiastically surveyed and languidly discarded +like so many wall-papers. It was evident that both the mother and +daughter were disappointed, and Littleton presently divined that +their chief objection was to the plainness of the several designs. +This was made unmistakably obvious when Mrs. Parsons, after +exhibiting a number of photographs of foreign public buildings with +which she had armed herself, surveyed the most ornate, holding it +out with her head on one side, and exclaimed impressively, "This is +more the sort of thing we should like. I think Mr. Parsons has +already explained to you that he desired our house to be as +handsome as possible."</p> +<p>"I had endeavored to bear that in mind," Littleton retorted with +spirit. "I believe that either of these plans would give you a +house which would be handsome, interesting and in good taste."</p> +<p>"It does not seem to me that there is anything unique about any +of them," said Mrs. Parsons, with a cold sniff intended to be +conclusive. Nor did Littleton's efforts to explain that elaboration +in a private residence was liable to detract from architectural +dignity and to produce the effect of vulgarity fall upon receptive +soil. The rich man's wife listened in stony silence, at times +raising her lorgnette to examine as a curiosity this young man who +was telling her—an American woman who had travelled around +the world and seen everything to be seen—how she ought to +build her own house. The upshot of this interview was that +Littleton was sent away with languid instructions to try again. He +departed, thinking melancholy thoughts and with fire in his soul, +which, for Selma's sake, he endeavored to keep out of his eyes.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3> +<p>The departure of the Williamses to a smarter neighborhood was a +trial for Selma. She nursed the dispiriting reflection that she and +Wilbur might just as well be moving also; that a little foresight +and shrewdness on her husband's part would have enabled him to sell +at a handsome profit the house in which they were living; and that +there was no reason, except the sheer, happy faculty of making the +most of opportunities, to account for the social recognition which +Flossy and her husband were beginning to receive. It had not been +easy to bear with equanimity during the last year the ingenuous, +light-hearted warblings in which Flossy had indulged as an outlet +to her triumphant spirits, and to listen to naïve recitals of +new progress, as though she herself were a companion or ladies' +maid, to whom such developments could never happen. She was weary +of being merely a recipient of confidences and a sympathetic +listener, and more weary still of being regarded as such by her +self-absorbed and successful neighbor. Why should Flossy be so +dense? Why should she play second fiddle to Flossy? Why should +Flossy take for granted that she did not intend to keep pace with +her? Keep pace, indeed, when, if circumstances would only shape +themselves a little differently, she would be able speedily to +outstrip her volatile friend in the struggle for social +preferment.</p> +<p>Not unnaturally their friendship had been somewhat strained by +the simmering of these thoughts in Selma's bosom. If a recipient of +confidences becomes tart or cold, ingenuous prattle is apt to flow +less spontaneously. Though Flossy was completely self-absorbed, and +consequently glad to pour out her satisfaction into a sympathetic +ear, she began to realize that there was something amiss with her +friend which mere conscientious disapproval of her own frivolities +did not adequately explain. It troubled her somewhat, for she liked +the Littletons and was proud of her acquaintance with them. +However, she was conscious of having acquitted herself toward them +with liberality, and, especially now that her social vista was +widening, she was not disposed at first to analyze too deeply the +cause of the lack of sympathy between them. That is, she was struck +by Selma's offish manner and frigid silences, but forgot them until +they were forced upon her attention the next time they met. But as +her friend continued to receive her bubbling announcements with +stiff indifference, Flossy, in her perplexity, began to bend her +acute mental faculties more searchingly on her idol. A fixed point +of view will keep a shrine sacred forever, but let a worshipper's +perspective be altered, and it is astonishing how different the +features of divinity will appear. Flossy had worshipped with the +eyes of faith. Now that her adoration was rejected without apparent +cause, her curiosity was piqued, and she sought an interpretation +of the mystery from her clever wits. As she observed Selma more +dispassionately her suspicion was stirred, and she began to wonder +if she had been burning incense before a false goddess. This doubt +was agitating her mind at the time when they moved from the +street.</p> +<p>Selma was unconscious of the existence of this doubt as she had +been largely unconscious of her own sour demeanor. She had no wish +to lose the advantages of intimate association with the Williamses. +On the contrary, she expected to make progress on her own account +by admission into their new social circle. She went promptly to +call, and saw fit to show herself tactfully appreciative of the new +establishment and more ready to listen to Flossy's volubility. +Flossy, who was radiant and bubbling over with fresh experiences +which she was eager to impart, was glad to dismiss her doubt and to +give herself up to the delights of unbridled speech. She took Selma +over her new house, which had been purchased just as it stood, +completely furnished, from the previous owner, who had suffered +financial reverses. "Gregory bought it because it was really a +bargain," she said. "It will do very well for the present, but we +intend to build before long. I am keeping my eye on your husband, +and am expecting great things from the Parsons house. Do you know, +I believe in Mr. Littleton, and feel sure that some day we shall +wake up and find him famous."</p> +<p>This was amiable, particularly as Flossy was very busily engaged +in contemplating the brilliant progress of Gregory Williams and his +wife. But Selma returned home feeling sore and dissatisfied. Flossy +had been gracious, but still dense and naïvely condescending. +Selma chose to foresee that her friend would neglect her, and her +foresight was correct. The call was not returned for many weeks, +although Flossy had assured her when they separated that distance +would make no difference in their intimacy. But in the first place, +her doubts recurred to Flossy after the departure of her visitor, +and in the second, the agitations incident to her new surroundings, +fortified by these doubts, made neglect easy. When she did call, +Selma happened to be out. A few days later an invitation to dine +with the Williamses arrived. Selma would have preferred to remain +at home as a rebuke, but she was miserably conscious that Flossy +would not perceive the point of the refusal. So she went, and was +annoyed when she realized that the guests were only people whom she +knew already—the Parsonses, and some of Gregory Williams's +former associates, whom she had met at the old house. It was a +pleasant dinner, apparently, to all except Selma. The entertainment +was flatteringly lavish, and both the host and hostess with suavity +put in circulation, under the rose, the sentiment that there are no +friends like old friends—a graceful insincerity which most of +them present accepted as true. Indeed, in one sense it was not an +insincerity, for Gregory and his wife entertained cordial feelings +toward them all. But on the other hand, Selma's immediate and +bitter conclusion was also true, that the company had been invited +together for the reason that, in the opinion of Flossy, they would +not have harmonized well with anyone else.</p> +<p>Said Wilbur as they drove away from the house—"Barring a +few moments of agony in the society of my tormentor, Mrs. Parsons, +I had a pleasant evening. They were obviously potting their old +acquaintance in one pie, but to my thinking it was preferable to +being sandwiched in between some of their new friends whom we do +not know and who know nothing of us. It was a little evident, but +on the whole agreeable."</p> +<p>Selma, shrouded in her wraps, made no reply at first. Suddenly +she exclaimed, with, fierceness, "I consider it rank impertinence. +It was as much as to say that they do not think us good enough to +meet their new friends."</p> +<p>Littleton, who still found difficulty in remembering that his +wife would not always enjoy the humor of an equivocal situation, +was sorry that he had spoken. "Come, Selma," he said, "there's no +use in taking that view of the matter. You would not really care to +meet the other people."</p> +<p>"Yes, I would, and she knows it. I shall never enter her house +again."</p> +<p>"As to that, my dear, the probabilities are that we shall not be +asked for some time. You know perfectly well that, in the nature of +things, your intimacy with Mrs. Williams must languish now that she +lives at a distance and has new surroundings. She may continue to +be very fond of you, but you can't hope to see very much of her, +unless I am greatly mistaken in her character."</p> +<p>"She is a shallow little worldling," said Selma, with measured +intensity.</p> +<p>"But you knew that already. The fact that she invited us to +dinner and did not ignore our existence altogether shows that she +likes us and wishes to continue the friendship. I've no doubt she +believes that she is going to see a great deal of us, and you +should blame destiny and the force of fashionable circumstances, +not Flossy, if you drift apart."</p> +<p>"She invited us because she wished to show off her new +house."</p> +<p>"Not altogether. You musn't be too hard on her."</p> +<p>Selma moved her shoulders impatiently, and there was silence for +some moments broken only by the tapping of her foot. Then she +asked, "How nearly have you finished the plans for the Parsons +house?"</p> +<p>Wilbur's brow clouded under cover of the night. He hesitated an +instant before replying, "I am sorry to say that Mrs. Parsons and I +do not seem to get on very well together. Her ideas and mine on the +subject of architecture are wide apart, as I have intimated to you +once or twice. I have modified my plans again, and she has made +airy suggestions which from my point of view are impossible. We are +practically at loggerheads, and I am trying to make up my mind what +I ought to do."</p> +<p>There was a wealth of condensation in the word 'impossible' +which brought back unpleasantly to Selma Pauline's use of the same +word in connection with the estimate which had been formed of Miss +Bailey. "There can be only one thing to do in the end," she said, +"if you can't agree. Mrs. Parsons, of course, must have her house +as she wishes it. It is her house, Wilbur."</p> +<p>"It is her house, and she has that right, certainly. The +question is whether I am willing to allow the world to point to an +architectural hotch-potch and call it mine."</p> +<p>"Isn't this another case of neglecting the practical side, +Wilbur? I am sure you exaggerate the importance of the changes she +desires. If I were building a house, I should expect to have it +built to suit me, and I should be annoyed if the architect stood on +points and were captious." Selma under the influence of this more +congenial theme had partially recovered her equanimity. Her duty +was her pleasure, and it was clearly her duty to lead her husband +in the right path and save him from becoming the victim of his own +shortcomings.</p> +<p>Wilbur sighed. "I have told her," he said, "that I would submit +another entirely new sketch. It may be that I can introduce some of +her and her daughter's splurgy and garish misconceptions without +making myself hopelessly ridiculous."</p> +<p>He entered the house wearily, and as he stood before the hall +table under the chandelier, Selma took him by the arm and turning +him toward her gazed into his face. "I wish to examine you. Pauline +said to me to-day that she thinks you are looking pale. I don't see +that you are; no more so than usual. You never were rosy exactly. +Do you know I have an idea that she thinks I am working you to +death."</p> +<p>"Pauline? What reason has she to think anything of the kind? +Besides, I am perfectly well. It is a delight to work for a woman +like you, dearest." He took her face between his hands and kissed +her tenderly; yet gravely, too, as though the riddle of life did +not solve itself at the touch of her lips. "You will be interested +to hear," he added, "that I shall finish and send off the Wetmore +College plans this week."</p> +<p>"I am glad they are off your hands, for you will have more time +for other work."</p> +<p>"Yes. I think I may have done something worth while," he said, +wistfully.</p> +<p>"And I shall try not to be annoyed if someone else gets the +award," she responded, smoothing down the sheen of her evening +dress and regarding herself in the mirror.</p> +<p>"Of course someone else may have taken equal pains and done a +better thing. It is necessary always to be prepared for that."</p> +<p>"That is the trouble. That is why I disapprove of +competitions."</p> +<p>"Selma, you are talking nonsense," Littleton exclaimed with +sudden sternness.</p> +<p>The decision in his tone made her start. The color mounted to +her face, and she surveyed him for an instant haughtily, as though +he had done her an injury. Then with an oratorical air and her +archangel look, she said, "You do not seem to understand, Wilbur, +that I am trying to save you from yourself."</p> +<p>Littleton was ever susceptible to that look of hers. It +suggested incarnate conscientiousness, and seemed incompatible with +human imperfection or unworthy ambitions. He was too wroth to +relent altogether, but he compressed his lips and returned her look +searchingly, as though he would scrutinize her soul.</p> +<p>"I'm bound to believe, I do believe, that you are trying to help +me, Selma. I need your advice and help, even against myself, I dare +say. But there are some matters of which you cannot judge so well +as I. You must trust my opinion where the development of my +professional life is concerned. I shall not forget your caution to +be practical, but for the sake of expediency I cannot be false to +what I believe true. Come, dear, let us go to bed."</p> +<p>He put his hand on her arm to lead her upstairs, but she turned +from it to collect her fan and gloves. Looking, not at him, but at +herself in the mirror, she answered, "Of course. I trust, though, +that this does not mean you intend to act foolishly in regard to +the Parsons house."</p> +<p>"I have already told you," he said, looking back, "that I am +going to make another attempt to satisfy that exasperating woman +and her daughter."</p> +<p>"And you can satisfy them, I'm sure, if you only choose to," +said Selma, by way of a firm, final observation.</p> +<p>Littleton's prophecy in regard to the waning of friendship +between his wife and Mrs. Williams proved to be correct. +Propinquity had made them intimate, and separation by force of +circumstances put a summary end to frequent and cordial intercourse +between them. As he had predicted, their first invitation to the +new house was still the last at the end of three months, and save +for a few words on one occasion in the street, Selma and Flossy did +not meet during that period. But during that same three months +Selma's attention was constantly attracted to the Williamses by +prominent newspaper allusions to their prosperity and growing +fashionable prestige. What they did and where they went were +chronicled in the then new style journalistic social gossip, and +the every-day world was made familiar with his financial opinions +and his equipages and her toilettes. The meeting in the street was +an ordeal for Selma. Flossy had been shopping and was about to step +into her carriage, the door of which was held open by an imposing +liveried footman, when the two women nearly collided.</p> +<p>"I have not seen you for an age," Flossy exclaimed, with the +genuine ring of regret in her tone, with which busy people +partially atone for having left undone the things they ought or +would like to have done. "Which way are you going? Can't I take you +somewhere?"</p> +<p>Selma glanced sternly at the snug coupe and stylish horses. "No, +we don't seem to meet very often," she said drily. "I'm living, +though, at the same place," she added, with a determination to be +sprightly.</p> +<p>"Yes, I know; I owe you a call. It's dreadful of me. I've been +intending to come, but you can't imagine how busy I've been. Such a +number of invitations, and new things to be done. I'm looking +forward to giving you a full account of my experiences."</p> +<p>"I've read about them in the newspapers."</p> +<p>"Oh, yes. Gregory is always civil to reporters. He says that the +newspapers are one of the great institutions of the country, and +that it is sensible to keep in touch with them. I will confide to +you that I think the whole business vulgar, and I intend some day, +when we are firmly established, to be ugly to them. But at present +the publicity is rather convenient and amusing," she exclaimed, +with a gay shake of her head, which set her ringlets bobbing.</p> +<p>"I should think it would be unpleasant to have the details of +one's appearance described by the press."</p> +<p>Flossy's doubts had returned in full force during the +conversation. She said to herself, "I wonder if that is true? I +wonder if it wouldn't be the very thing she would like?" But she +answered blithely, "Oh, one gets used to it. Then I can't take you +anywhere? I'm sorry. Some day I hope my round of gayety will cease, +so that we can have a quiet evening together. I miss your husband. +I always find him suggestive and interesting."</p> +<p>"'Her round of gayety! A quiet evening together!'" murmured +Selma as she walked away. "Wilbur is right; purse-proud, frivolous +little thing! She is determined to destroy our friendship."</p> +<p>Four weeks subsequent to this meeting the newspapers contained a +fulsome account of a dancing party given by Mr. and Mrs. Gregory +Williams—"an elegant and recherché entertainment," in +the language of the reporter. A list of the company followed, which +Selma scrutinized with a brow like a thunder-cloud. She had +acquired a feverish habit of perusing similar lists, and she +recognized that Flossy's guests—among the first of whom were +Mr. and Mrs. Morton Price and the Misses Price—were chiefly +confined to persons whom she had learned to know as members of +fashionable society. She read, in the further phraseology of the +reporter, that "it was a small and select affair." At the end of +the list, as though they had been invited on sufferance as a +business necessity, were the Parsonses; but these were the only +former associates of the Williamses. Selma had just finished her +second reading of this news item when her meditation was +interrupted by the voice of her husband, who had been silent during +dinner, as though he had some matter on his mind, and was at the +moment sitting close by, on the other side of the lamp which +lighted the library table.</p> +<p>"I fear you will be disappointed, Selma, but I have informed Mr. +Parsons definitely this morning, that he must get another +architect. The ideas of his wife and daughter are hopelessly at +variance with mine. He seemed to be sorry—indeed, I should +think he was a reasonable and sensible man—but he said that +he was building to please Mrs. Parsons, and we both agreed that +under the circumstances it was necessary that she should make a +fresh start. He asked me to send my bill, and we parted on the best +of terms. So it is all over, and except from the point of view of +dollars and cents, I am very glad. Only the remembrance that you +had set your heart on my making this my masterpiece, prevented me +from throwing over the contract weeks ago. Tell me, Selma +<i>mia</i>, that you approve of what I have done and congratulate +me." He pulled forward his chair so that he might see her face +without interference from the lamp and leaned toward her with frank +appeal.</p> +<p>"Yes, I had set my heart on it, and you knew it. Yet you +preferred to give up this fine opportunity to show what you could +do and to get business worth having rather than sacrifice your own +ideas as to how a house should be built to the ideas of the women +who were to live in it. I dare say I should agree with them, and +that the things which they wished and you objected to were things I +would have insisted on having."</p> +<p>Littleton started as though she had struck him in the face. +"Selma! My wife! Do you realize what you are saying?"</p> +<p>"Perfectly."</p> +<p>"Then—then—. Why, what have I said, what have I done +that you should talk like this?"</p> +<p>"Done? Everything. For one thing you have thrown away the chance +for getting ahead in your profession which I procured for you. For +another, by your visionary, unpractical ways, you have put me in +the position where I can be insulted. Read that, and judge for +yourself." She held out to him the newspaper containing the account +of the dancing party, pointing with her finger to the obnoxious +passage.</p> +<p>With nervous hands Littleton drew the page under the light. +"What is all this about? A party? What has it to do with our +affairs?"</p> +<p>"It has this to do with them—if you had been more +practical and enterprising, our names would have been on that +list."</p> +<p>"I am glad they are not there."</p> +<p>"Yes, I know. You would be content to have us remain nobodies +all our days. You do not care what becomes of my life, provided you +can carry out your own narrow theory of how we ought to live. And I +had such faith in you, too! I have refused to believe until now +that you were not trying to make the most of your opportunities, +and to enable me to make the most of mine."</p> +<p>"Selma, are you crazy? To think that you, the woman I have loved +with all my soul, should be capable of saying such things to me! +What does it mean?"</p> +<p>She was quick to take advantage of his phrase. "Have loved? Yes, +I know that you do not love me as you did; otherwise you could not +have refused to build that house, against my wish and advice. It +means this, Wilbur Littleton, that I am determined not to let you +spoil my life. You forget that in marrying you I gave up my own +ambitions and hopes for your sake; because—because I believed +that by living together we should be more, and accomplish more, +than by living apart. You said you needed me, and I was fool enough +to believe it."</p> +<p>The fierce tragedy in her tone lapsed into self-pity under the +influence of her last thought, and Littleton, eager in his +bewilderment for some escape from the horror of the situation, put +aside his anger and dropping on his knees beside her tried to take +her hands.</p> +<p>"You are provoked, my darling. Do not say things which you will +be sorry for to-morrow. I call God to witness that I have sought +above all else to make you happy, and if I have failed, I am +utterly miserable. I have needed you, I do need you. Do not let a +single difference of opinion spoil the joy of both our lives and +divide our hearts."</p> +<p>She pulled her hands away, and shunning his endearment, rose to +her feet.</p> +<p>"I am provoked, but I know what I am saying. A single difference +of opinion? Do you not see, Wilbur, that none of our opinions are +the same, and that we look at everything differently? Even your +religion and the God you call to witness are not mine. They are +stiff and cold; you Unitarians permit your consciences to deaden +your emotions and belittle your outlook on life. When I went with +Mr. Parsons the other day to the Methodist church, I could not help +thinking how different it was. I was thrilled and I felt I could do +anything and be anything. My mother was a Methodist. They sang +'Onward Christian Soldiers,' and it was glorious." She paused a +moment and, with an exalted look, seemed to be recalling the +movement of the hymn. "With you, Wilbur, and the people like +you—Pauline is the same—everything is measured and +pondered over, and nothing is spontaneous. I like action, and +progress and prompt, sensible conclusions. That is the American +way, and the way in which people who succeed get on. But you won't +see it—you can't see it. I've tried to explain it to you, and +now—now it's too late. We're nobodies, and, if our hearts are +divided, that's fate I suppose. It's a very cruel fate for me. But +I don't choose to remain a nobody."</p> +<p>Littleton's expression as she talked had changed from +astonishment to anger, and from anger to a sternness which gave his +words of response the effect of calm and final decision. "You have +said so many things with which I do not agree, and which I should +have to dispute, that I will not attempt to argue with you +concerning them. One thing is clear, both of us have made a +horrible mistake. Each has misunderstood the other. You are +dissatisfied with me; I realize suddenly that you are utterly +different from what I supposed. I am overwhelmed, but your words +make plain many things which have distressed and puzzled me." He +paused as though in spite of the certainty of his tone, he hoped +that she would see fit to deny his conclusions. "We have made a +mistake and we shall both be miserable—that must needs +be—but we must consider whether there is any method by which +we can be less unhappy. What would you like to have me do, Selma? +We have no children, thank heaven! Would it be more agreeable to +live apart from me and receive support? A divorce does not seem +necessary. Besides, our misconception of each other would not be a +legal cause."</p> +<p>Selma flushed at the reference to divorce. Littleton's sad, +simple statement wore on the surface no sign of a design to hark +back to her experience with her first husband, yet she divined that +it must be in his thoughts and she resented the recurrence. +Moreover, separation, certainly for the present, went beyond her +purpose.</p> +<p>"I have no wish for divorce or separation. I see no reason why +we should not continue to live as we are," she answered. "To +separate would cause scandal. It is not necessary that people +should know we have made a mistake. I shall merely feel more free +now to live my own life—and there is no telling that you may +not some day see things from my point of view and sympathize with +me more." She uttered the last words with a mixture of pathos and +bright solicitation.</p> +<p>Littleton shook his head. "I agree with you that to go on as we +are is our best course. As you say, we ought, if possible, to keep +the knowledge of our sorrow to ourselves. God knows that I wish I +could hope that our life could ever be as it was before. Too many +things have become plain to me in the last half-hour to make that +possible. I could never learn to accept or sympathize with your +point of view. There can be no half-love with me, Selma. It is my +nature to be frank, and as you are fond of saying, that is the +American way. I am your husband still, and while I live you shall +have my money and my protection. But I have ceased to be your +lover, though my heart is broken."</p> +<p>"Very well," said Selma, after a painful pause. "But you know, +Wilbur," she added in a tone of eager protestation, "that I do not +admit for a moment that I am at fault. I was simply trying to help +you. You have only yourself to blame for your unhappiness +and—and for mine. I hope you understand that."</p> +<p>"Yes, I understand that you think so," he said sadly.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER IX.</h3> +<p>The breach between Littleton and his wife was too serious to be +healed, for he was confronted by the conviction that Selma was a +very different being from the woman whom he had supposed that he +was marrying. He had been slow to harbor distrust, and loath, even +in the face of her own words, to admit that he had misinterpreted +her character; but this last conversation left no room for doubt. +Selma had declared to him, unequivocally, that his ideas and theory +of life were repugnant to her, and that, henceforth, she intended +to act independently of them, so far as she could do so, and yet +maintain the semblance of the married state. It was a cruel shock +and disappointment to him. At the time of his marriage he would +have said that the least likely of possible happenings would be +self-deception as to the character of the woman he loved. Yet this +was precisely what had befallen him.</p> +<p>Having realized his mistake, he did not seek to flinch from the +bitter truth. He saw clearly that their future relations toward +each other must be largely formal; that tender comradeship and +mutual soul alliance were at an end. At the same time his simple, +direct conscience promptly indicated to him that it was his duty to +recognize Selma's point of view and endeavor to satisfy it as far +as he could without sacrifice of his own principles. He chose to +remember that she, too, had made a mistake, and that he was not the +kind of husband whom she desired; that his tastes were not her +tastes, nor his ambitions her's; that she had tastes and ambitions +of her own which he, as the man to whom she was bound by the law, +must not disregard. Thus reasoning, he resolved to carry out the +scheme of life which she appeared to despise, but also to work hard +to provide her with the means to fulfil her own aims. She craved +money for social advancement. She should have it from him, for +there was no other source from which she could obtain it. The +poignancy of his own sorrow should not cause him to ignore that she +had given up her own career and pursuits in order to become his +wife, and was now disappointed and without independent resources. +His pride was sorely wounded, his ideals shattered and his heart +crushed; yet, though he could not forbear from judging Selma, and +was unconscious of having failed in his obligations to her as a +husband and a man, he saw what she called her side, and he took up +the thread of life again under the spur of an intention to give her +everything but love.</p> +<p>On her part Selma felt aggrieved yet emancipated. She had not +looked for any such grave result from her vituperation. She had +intended to reprove his surrender of the Parsons's contract, in +direct opposition to her own wishes, with the severity it deserved, +and to let him understand clearly that he was sacrificing her +happiness, no less than his own, by his hysterical folly. When the +conversation developed stubborn resistance on his part, and she +realized that he was defending and adhering to his purpose, a +righteous sense of injury became predominant in her mind over +everything else. All her past wrongs cried for redress, and she +rejoiced in the opportunity of giving free vent to the pent up +grievances which had been accumulating for many months. Even then +it was startling to her that Wilbur should suddenly utter the +tragic ultimatum that their happiness was at an end, and hint at +divorce. She considered that she loved him, and it had never +occurred to her that he could ever cease to love her. Rather than +retract a word of her own accusations she would have let him leave +her, then and there, to live her own life without protection or +support from him, but his calmer decision that they should continue +to live together, yet apart, suited her better. In spite of his +resolute mien she was sceptical of the seriousness of the +situation. She believed in her heart that after a few days of +restraint they would resume their former life, and that Wilbur, on +reflection, would appreciate that he had been absurd.</p> +<p>When it became apparent that he was not to be appeased and that +his threat had been genuine, Selma accepted the new relation +without demur, and prepared to play her part in the compact as +though she had been equally obdurate in her outcry for her freedom. +She met reserve with reserve, maintaining rigorously the attitude +that she had been wronged and that he was to blame. Meantime she +watched him narrowly, wondering what his grave, sad demeanor and +solicitous politeness signified. When presently it became plain to +her that not merely she was to be free to follow her own bent, but +that he was ready to provide her with the means to carry out her +schemes, she regarded his liberality as weakness and a sign that he +knew in his heart that she was in the right. Immediately, and with +thinly concealed triumph, she planned to utilize the new liberty at +her disposal, purging any scruples from her conscience by the +generous reflection that when Wilbur's brow unbent and his lips +moved freely she would forgive him and proffer him once more her +conjugal counsel and sympathy. She was firmly of the opinion that, +unless he thus acknowledged his shortcomings and promised +improvement, the present arrangement was completely to her liking, +and that confidence and happiness between them would be utterly +impossible. She shed some tears over the thought that unkind +circumstances had robbed her of the love by which she had set such +store and which she, on her part, still cherished, but she +comforted herself with the retort that its loss was preferable to +sacrificing weakly the development of her own ideas and life to its +perpetuation.</p> +<p>Her flush of triumph was succeeded, however, by a discontented +mood, because cogitation constrained her to suspect that her social +progress might not be so rapid as her first rosy visions had +suggested. She counted on being able to procure the participation +of Wilbur sufficiently to preserve the appearance of domestic +harmony. This would be for practical purposes a scarcely less +effective furtherance of her plans than if he were heartily in +sympathy with them. Were there not many instances where busy +husbands took part in the social undertakings of their wives, +merely on the surface, to preserve appearances? The attitude of +Wilbur seemed reasonably secure. That which harassed her as the +result of her reflections and efforts to plan was the unpalatable +consciousness that she did not know exactly what to do, and that no +one, even now that she was free, appeared eager to extend to her +the hand of recognition. She was prompt to lay the blame of this on +her husband. It was he who, by preventing her from taking advantage +of the social opportunities at their disposal, had consigned her to +this eddy where she was overlooked. This seemed to her a complete +excuse, and yet, though she made the most of it, it did not satisfy +her. Her helplessness angered her, and aroused her old feelings of +suspicion and resentment against the fashionable crew who appeared +to be unaware of her existence. She was glad to believe that the +reason they ignored her was because she was too serious minded and +spiritual to suit their frivolous and pleasure-loving tastes. +Sometimes she reasoned that the sensible thing for her to do was to +break away from her present life, where convention and caste +trammelled her efforts, and make a name for herself as an +independent soul, like Mrs. Margaret Rodney Earle and other +free-born women of the Republic. With satisfaction she pictured +herself on the lecture platform uttering burning denunciation of +the un-American social proclivities of this shallow society, and +initiating a crusade which should sweep it from existence beneath +the ban of the moral sense of the thoughtful people of the +country.</p> +<p>But more frequently she nursed her resentment against Mrs. +Williams, to whom she ascribed the blame of her isolation, +reasoning that if Flossy had been a true friend, not even Wilbur's +waywardness would have prevented her social recognition and +success. That, instead, this volatile, fickle prattler had used her +so long as she needed her, and then dropped her heartlessly. The +memory of Flossy's ball still rankled deeply, and appeared to Selma +a more obvious and more exasperating insult as the days passed +without a sign of explanation on the part of her late neighbor, and +as her new projects languished for lack of a few words of +introduction here and there, which, in her opinion, were all she +needed to ensure her enthusiastic welcome as a social leader. The +appreciation that without those words of introduction she was +helpless for the time being focused her resentment, already keen, +on the successful Flossy, whose gay doings had disappeared from the +public prints in a blaze of glory with the advent of the Lenten +season. Refusing to acknowledge her dependence, Selma essayed +several spasmodic attempts to assert herself, but they proved +unsatisfactory. She made the most of Mr. Parsons's predilection for +her society, which had not been checked by Wilbur's termination of +the contract. She was thus enabled to affiliate with some of their +new friends, but she was disagreeably conscious that she was not +making real progress, and that Mr. and Mrs. Parsons and their +daughter had, like herself, been dropped by the +Williamses—dropped skilfully and imperceptibly, yet none the +less dropped. Two dinner parties, which she gave in the course of a +fortnight to the most important of these new acquaintances, by way +of manifesting to Wilbur her intention to enjoy her liberty at his +expense, left her depressed and sore.</p> +<p>It was just at this time that Flossy took it into her head to +call on her—one of her first Lenten duties, as she hastened +to assure Selma, with glib liveliness, as soon as she entered. +Flossy was in too exalted a frame of mind, too bubbling over with +the desire to recite her triumphs, to have in mind either her +doubts concerning Selma or the need of being more than mildly +apologetic for her lack of devotion. She felt friendly, for she was +in good humor, and was naïvely desirous to be received in the +same spirit, so that she might unbosom herself unreservedly. +Sweeping into the room, an animated vision of smiling, stylish +cordiality, she sought, as it were, to carry before her by force of +her own radiant mood all obstacles to an amiable reception.</p> +<p>"My dear, we haven't met for ages. Thank heaven, Lent has come, +and now I may see something of you. I said to Gregory only +yesterday that I should make a bee-line for your house, and here I +am. Well, dear, how are you? All sorts of things have happened, +Selma, since we've had a real chat together. Do you remember my +telling you—of course you do—not long after Gregory and +I were married that I never should be satisfied until one thing +happened? Well, you may congratulate me; it has happened. We dined +a week ago to-night with my cousins—the Morton Prices—a +dinner of fourteen, all of them just the people I wished to know. +Wasn't it lovely? I have waited for it to come, and I haven't moved +a finger to bring it about, except to ask them to my dancing +party—I had to do that, for after all they are my relations. +They accepted and came and I was pleased by it; but they could +easily have ignored me afterward if they had wished. What really +pleased me, Selma, was their asking me to one of their select +dinners, because—because it showed that we are—"</p> +<p>Flossy's hesitation was due partly to the inherent difficulty of +expressing her thought with proper regard for modesty. With her +rise in life she had learned that unlimited laudation of self was +not altogether consistent with "fitness," even in such a +confidential interview as the present. But she was also +disconcerted by the look in Selma's eyes—a look which, at +first startled into momentary friendliness by the suddenness of the +onslaught, had become more and more lowering until it was +unpleasantly suggestive of scornful dislike. While she thus +faltered, Selma drily rounded out the sentence with the words, +"Because it showed that you are somebodies now."</p> +<p>Flossy gave an embarrassed little laugh. "Yes, that's what I +meant. I see you have a good memory, and it sounds nicer on your +lips than it would on mine."</p> +<p>"You have come here to-day on purpose to tell me this?" said +Selma.</p> +<p>"I thought you would be interested to hear that my cousins had +recognized me at last. I remember, you thought it strange that they +should take so little notice of me." Flossy's festive manner had +disappeared before the tart reception of her confidences, and her +keen wits, baffled in their search for flattery, recalled the +suspicions which were only slumbering. She realized that Selma was +seriously offended with her, and though she did not choose to +acknowledge to herself that she knew the cause, she had already +guessed it. An encounter at repartee had no terrors for her, if +necessary, and the occasion seemed to her opportune for probing the +accumulating mysteries of Selma's hostile demeanor. Yet, without +waiting for a response to her last remark, she changed the subject, +and said, volubly, "I hear that your husband has refused to build +the new Parsons house because Mrs. Parsons insisted on drawing the +plans."</p> +<p>Selma's pale, tense face flushed. She thought for a moment that +she was being taunted.</p> +<p>"That was Mr. Littleton's decision, not mine."</p> +<p>"I admire his independence. He was quite right. What do Mrs. +Parsons or her daughter know about architecture? Everybody is +laughing at them. You know I consider your husband a friend of +mine, Selma."</p> +<p>"And we were friends, too, I believe?" Selma exclaimed, after a +moment of stern silence.</p> +<p>"Naturally," responded Flossy, with a slightly sardonic air, +prompted by the acerbity with which the question was put.</p> +<p>"Then, if we were friends—are friends, why have you ceased +to associate with us, simply because you live in another street and +a finer house?"</p> +<p>Flossy gave a gasp. "Oh," she said to herself, "it's true. She +is jealous. Why didn't I appreciate it before?"</p> +<p>"Am I not associating with you now by calling on you, Selma?" +she said aloud. "I don't understand what you mean."</p> +<p>"You are calling on me, and you asked us to dinner to +meet—to meet just the people we knew already, and didn't care +to meet; but you have never asked us to meet your new friends, and +you left us out when you gave your dancing party."</p> +<p>"You do not dance."</p> +<p>"How do you know?"</p> +<p>"I have never associated you with dancing. I assumed that you +did not dance."</p> +<p>"What grounds had you for such an assumption?"</p> +<p>"Really, Selma, your catechism is most extraordinary. Excuse my +smiling. And I don't know how to answer your questions—your +fierce questions any better. I didn't ask you to my party because I +supposed that you and your husband were not interested in that sort +of thing, and would not know any of the people. You have often told +me that you thought they were frivolous."</p> +<p>"I consider them so still."</p> +<p>"Then why do you complain?"</p> +<p>"Because—because you have not acted like a friend. Your +idea of friendship has been to pour into my ears, day after day, +how you had been asked to dinner by this person and taken up by +that person, until I was weary of the sound of your voice, but it +seems not to have occurred to you, as a friend of mine, and a +friend and admirer of my husband, to introduce us to people whom +you were eager to know, and who might have helped him in his +profession. And now, after turning the cold shoulder on us, and +omitting us from your party, because you assumed I didn't dance, +you have come here this morning, in the name of friendship, to tell +me that your cousins, at last, have invited you to dinner. And yet +you think it strange that I'm not interested. That's the only +reason you came—to let me know that you are a somebody now; +and you expected me, as a friend and a nobody, to tell you how glad +I am."</p> +<p>Flossy's eyes opened wide. Free as she was accustomed to be in +her own utterances, this flow of bitter speech delivered with +seer-like intensity was a new experience to her. She did not know +whether to be angry or amused by the indictment, which caused her +to wince notwithstanding that she deemed it slander. Moreover the +insinuation that she had been a bore was humiliating.</p> +<p>"I shall not weary you soon again with my confidences," she +answered. "So it appears that you were envious of me all the +time—that while you were preaching to me that fashionable +society was hollow and un-American, you were secretly unhappy +because you couldn't do what I was doing—because you weren't +invited, too. Oh, I see it all now; it's clear as daylight. I've +suspected the truth for some time, but I've refused to credit it. +Now everything is explained. I took you at your word; I believed in +you and your husband and looked up to you as literary +people—people who were interested in fine and ennobling +things. I admired you for the very reason that I thought you didn't +care, and that you didn't need to care, about society and +fashionable position. I kept saying to you that I envied you your +tastes, and let you see that I considered myself your real inferior +in my determination to attract attention and oblige society to +notice us. I was guileless and simpleton enough to tell you of my +progress—things I would have blushed to tell another woman +like myself—because I considered you the embodiment of high +aims and spiritual ideas, as far superior to mine as the poetic +star is superior to the garish electric light. I thought it might +amuse you to listen to my vanities. Instead, it seems you were +masquerading and were eating your heart out with envy of +me—poor me. You were ambitious to be like me."</p> +<p>"I wouldn't be like you for anything in the world."</p> +<p>"You couldn't if you tried. That's one of the things which this +extraordinary interview has made plain beyond the shadow of a +doubt. You are aching to be a social success. You are not fit to +be. I have found that out for certain to-day."</p> +<p>"It is false," exclaimed Selma, with a tragic intonation. "You +do not understand. I have no wish to be a social success. I should +abhor to spend my life after the manner of you and your associates. +What I object to, what I complain of, is that, in spite of your +fine words and pretended admiration of me, you have preferred these +people, who are exclusive without a shadow of right, to me who was +your friend, and that you have chosen to ignore me for the sake of +them, and behaved as if you thought I was not their equal or your +equal. That is not friendship, it is snobbishness—un-American +snobbishness."</p> +<p>"It is very amusing. Amusing yet depressing," continued Flossy, +without heed to this asseveration. "You have proved one of my +ideals to be a delusion, which is sad." She had arisen and stood +gently swaying pendent by its crook her gay parasol, with her head +on one side, and seeming for once to be choosing her words +judicially. "When we met first and I nearly rushed into your arms, +I was fascinated, and I said to myself that here was the sort of +American woman of whom I had dreamed—the sort of woman I had +fondly imagined once that I might become. I saw you were +unsophisticated and different from the conventional women to whom I +was accustomed, and, even at first, the things you said every now +and then gave me a creepy feeling, but you were inspiring to look +at—though now that the scales have fallen from my eyes I +wonder at my infatuation—and I continued to worship you as a +goddess on a pedestal. I used to say to Gregory, 'there's a couple +who are to the manner born; they never have to make believe. They +are genuinely free and gentle souls.' Your husband? I can't believe +that I have been deluded in regard to him, also. I just wonder if +you appreciate him—if it is possible that he has been +deluded, also. That's rank impertinence, I know; but after all, we +are unbosoming our thoughts to each other to-day, and may as well +speak openly. You said just now that it was his decision not to go +on with the Parsons house. Did you disapprove of it?"</p> +<p>"Yes, I disapproved of it," answered Selma with flashing eyes. +"And what if I did?"</p> +<p>She rose and stood confronting her visitor as though to banish +her from the house.</p> +<p>"I'm going," said Flossy. "It's none of my concern of course, +and I'm aware that I appear very rude. I'm anxious though not to +lose faith in your husband, and now that I've begun to understand +you, my wits are being flooded with light. I was saying that you +were not fit to be a social success, and I'm going to tell you why. +No one else is likely to, and I'm just mischievous and frank +enough. You're one of those American women—I've always been +curious to meet one in all her glory—who believe that they +are born in the complete panoply of flawless womanhood; that they +are by birthright consummate house-wives, leaders of the world's +thought and ethics, and peerless society queens. All this by +instinct, by heritage, and without education. That's what you +believe, isn't it? And now you are offended because you haven't +been invited to become a leader of New York society. You don't +understand, and I don't suppose you ever will understand, that a +true lady—a genuine society queen—represents modesty +and sweetness and self-control, and gentle thoughts and feelings; +that she is evolved by gradual processes from generation to +generation, not ready made. Oh, you needn't look at me like that. +I'm quite aware that if I were the genuine article I shouldn't be +talking to you in this fashion. But there's hope for me because I'm +conscious of my shortcomings and am trying to correct them; whereas +you are satisfied, and fail to see the difference between yourself +and the well-bred women whom you envy and sneer at. You're pretty +and smart and superficial and—er—common, and you don't +know it. I'm rather dreadful, but I'm learning. I don't believe you +will ever learn. There! Now I'm going."</p> +<p>"Go!" cried Selma with a wave of her arm. "Yes, I am one of +those women. I am proud to be, and you have insulted by your +aspersions, not only me, but the spirit of independent and aspiring +American womanhood. You don't understand us; you have nothing in +common with us. You think to keep us down by your barriers of caste +borrowed from effete European courts, but we—I—the +American people defy you. The time will come when we shall rise in +our might and teach you your place. Go! Envy you? I would not +become one of your frivolous and purposeless set if you were all on +your bended knees before me."</p> +<p>"Oh, yes you would," exclaimed Flossy, glancing back over her +shoulder. "And it's because you've not been given the chance that +we have quarrelled now."</p> +<h3>CHAPTER X.</h3> +<p>The morning after her drastic interview with Mrs. Williams, +Selma studied herself searchingly in her mirror. Of all Flossy's +candid strictures the intimation that she was not and never would +be completely a lady was the only one which rankled. The effrontery +of it made her blood boil; and yet she consulted her glass in the +seclusion of her chamber in order to reassure herself as to the +spiteful falsity of the criticism. Wild horses would not have +induced her to admit even to herself that there was the slightest +ground for it; still it rankled, thereby suggesting a +sub-consciousness of suspicion on the look out for just such a +calumny.</p> +<p>She gave Littleton her own version of the quarrel. Her +explanation was that she had charged Flossy with a lack of +friendship in failing to invite her to her ball, and convicted her +of detestable snobbery; that she had denounced this conduct in +vigorous language, that they had parted in anger, and that all +intercourse between them was at an end.</p> +<p>"We understand each other now," she added. "I have felt for some +time that we were no longer sympathetic; and that something of this +kind was inevitable. I am glad that we had the chance to speak +plainly, for I was able to show her that I had been waiting for an +excuse to cut loose from her and her frivolous surroundings. I have +wearied my spirit long enough with listening to social inanities, +and in lowering my standards to hers for the sake of appearing +friendly and conventional. That is all over now, thank heaven."</p> +<p>It did not occur to Selma that there was any inconsistency in +these observations, or that they might appear a partial vindication +of her husband's point of view. The most salient effect of her +encounter with Flossy had been suddenly to fuse and crystallize her +mixed and seemingly contradictory ambitions into utter hostility to +conventional fashionable society. Even when her heart had been +hungering for an invitation to Flossy's ball, she considered that +she despised these people, but the interview had served to +establish her in the glowing faith that they, by their inability to +appreciate her, had shown themselves unworthy of further +consideration. The desire which she had experienced of late for a +renewal of her intimacy with Mrs. Earle and a reassertion of her +former life of independent feminine activity had returned to her, +coupled with the crusading intention to enroll herself openly once +more in the army of new American women, whose impending victorious +campaign she had prophesied in her retort to Mrs. Williams's +maledictions. She had, in her own opinion, never ceased to belong +to this army, and she felt herself now more firmly convinced than +ever that the course of life of those who had turned a cold +shoulder on her was hostile to the spirit of American institutions. +So far as her husband was concerned, imaginative enterprise and the +capacity to take advantage of opportunities still seemed to her of +the essence of fine character. Indeed, she was not conscious of any +change in her point of view. She had resented Flossy's charge that +she desired to be a social success, and had declared that her +wounded feelings were solely due to Flossy's betrayal of +friendship, not to balked social ambition. Consequently it was no +strain on her conscientiousness to feel that her real sentiments +had always been the same.</p> +<p>Nevertheless she scrutinized herself eagerly and long in her +mirror, and the process left her serious brow still clouded. She +saw in the glass features which seemed to her suggestive of +superior womanhood, a slender clear-cut nose, the nostrils of which +dilated nervously, delicately thin, compressed lips, a pale, +transparent complexion, and clear, steel-like, greenish-brown eyes +looking straight and boldly from an anxious forehead surmounted +with a coiffure of elaborately and smoothly arranged hair. She saw +indisputable evidence that she had ceased to be the ethically +attractive, but modishly unsophisticated and physically undeveloped +girl, who had come to New York five years before, for her figure +was compact without being unduly plump, her cheeks becomingly oval, +and her toilette stylish. There were rings on her fingers, and her +neck-gear was smart. Altogether the vision was satisfactory, yet +she recognized as she gazed that her appearance and general effect +were not precisely those of Flossy, Pauline, or Mrs. Hallett +Taylor. She had always prided herself on the distinction of her +face, and admired especially its freedom from gross or +unintellectual lines. She did not intend to question its +superiority now; but Flossy's offensive words rang in her ears and +caused her to gnaw her lips with annoyance. What was the difference +between them? Flossy had dared to call her common and superficial; +had dared to insinuate that she never could be a lady. A lady? What +was there in her appearance not lady-like? In what way was she the +inferior of any of them in beauty, intelligence or character? +Rigorous as was the scrutiny, the face in the mirror seemed to her +an unanswerable refutation of the slander. What was the difference? +Was it that her eyes were keener and brighter, her lips thinner and +less fleshly, her general expression more wide-awake and +self-reliant? If so, were these not signs of superiority; signs +that they, not she, were deficient in the attributes of the best +modern womanhood in spite of their affectation of +exclusiveness?</p> +<p>The result of this process of self-examination in her +looking-glass, which was not limited to a single occasion, +established more firmly than ever in Selma's opinion the malignant +falsity of the imputation, and yet she was still haunted by it. She +was tortured by the secret thought that, though her ambition had +been to become just like those other women, she was still +distinguishable from them; and moreover, that she was baffled in +her attempt to analyze the distinction. Distinguishable even from +Flossy—from Flossy, who had slighted and then reviled her! +Why had she ever faltered in her distrust of these enemies of true +American society? Yet this lingering sense of torture served to +whet her new-found purpose to have done with them forever, and to +obtain the recognition and power to which she was entitled, in +spite of their impertinence and neglect.</p> +<p>The announcement was made to her by Wilbur at about this time +that his plans for Wetmore College had been accepted, and that he +was to be the architect of the new buildings. As he told her his +face showed a tremulous animation which it had not worn for many +weeks, and he regarded her for a moment with shy eagerness, as +though he half hoped that this vindication of his purposes by +success might prompt her to tender some sort of apology, and thus +afford him the chance to persuade himself that he had been mistaken +after all in his judgment of her.</p> +<p>"You must be very much pleased," she said. "And so am I, of +course." Then, after a moment of reflective abstraction, she asked +with sudden eagerness, "How long will it take to build them?"</p> +<p>"Two or three years, I suppose."</p> +<p>"And you would be obliged to go frequently to Benham?"</p> +<p>"In order to oversee the work I should have to make short trips +there from time to time."</p> +<p>"Yes. Wilbur," she exclaimed, with her exalted expression, "why +shouldn't we go to Benham to live? I have been thinking a great +deal lately about what we said to each other that time when you +felt so badly, and I have come to the conclusion that our living in +New York is what is really the trouble. I have the feeling, Wilbur, +that in some other place than this cruel, conventional city we +should be happier than we are now—indeed, very happy. Has it +ever occurred to you? You see, New York doesn't understand me; it +doesn't understand you, Wilbur. It sneers at our aspirations. +Benham is a growing, earnest city—a city throbbing with the +best American spirit and energy. I suggest Benham because we both +know it so well. The college buildings would give you a grand +start, and I—we both would be in our proper sphere."</p> +<p>Littleton had started at the suggestion. As a drowning man will +grasp at a straw, his grieving soul for an instant entertained the +plan as a panacea for their woes. But his brow grew grave and sad +under the influence of reflection as she proceeded to set forth her +reasons in her wrapt fashion. If he had not learned to remain cold +under the witchery of her intense moods, he no longer hesitated to +probe her fervid assertions with his self-respecting +common-sense.</p> +<p>"I would he willing to go to the ends of the earth, Selma," he +answered, "if I believed that by so doing you and I could become +what we once were to each other. But I cannot see why we should +hope to be happier in Benham than here, nor do I agree with you +that this is not our proper sphere. I do not share your sentiments +in regard to New York; but whatever its faults, New York is the +place where I have established myself and am known, and where the +abilities which I possess can be utilized and will be appreciated +soonest. Benham is twenty-five years behind this city in all things +which concern art and my professional life, as you well know."</p> +<p>Selma flushed. "On the contrary, I have reason to believe that +Benham has made wonderful progress in the last five years. My +friends there write that there are many new streets and beautiful +buildings, and that the spirit of the place is enthusiastic and +liberal, not luxurious and sneering. You never appreciated Benham +at its true worth, Wilbur."</p> +<p>"Perhaps not. But we chose New York."</p> +<p>"Then you insist on remaining here?"</p> +<p>"I see no reason for sacrificing the fruits of the past five +years—for pulling myself up by the roots and making a fresh +start. From a professional point of view, I think it would be +madness."</p> +<p>"Not even to save our happiness?" Selma's eyes swam and her lips +trembled as she spoke. She felt very miserable, and she yearned +with the desire that her husband would clasp her in his arms in a +vast embrace, and tell her that she was right and that he would go. +She felt that if he did, the horror of the past would be wiped out +and loving harmony be restored.</p> +<p>Wilbur's lips trembled, too. He gazed at her for a moment +without speaking, in conflict with himself; then passing his hand +across his forehead, as though he would sweep away a misty spell +from his eyes, said, "Be sensible, Selma. If we could be happy in +Benham, we should be happy here."</p> +<p>"Then you refuse?"</p> +<p>"For the present, yes."</p> +<p>"And I must remain here to be insulted—and a nobody."</p> +<p>"For God's sake, Selma, let us not renew that discussion. What +you ask is impossible at present, but I shall remember that it is +your wish, and when I begin my work at Benham the circumstances and +surroundings may be such that I shall feel willing to move."</p> +<p>Selma turned to the table and took up a book, dissatisfied, yet +buoyed by a new hope. She did not observe the tired lines on her +husband's face—the weariness of a soul disappointed in its +most precious aspirations.</p> +<p>Within the next month it happened that a terrible and unusual +fatality was the occasion of the death of both Mrs. Parsons and her +daughter. They were killed by a fall of the elevator at the hotel +in which they were living—one of those dire casualties which +are liable to happen to any one of us in these days of swift and +complicated apparatus, but which always seem remote from personal +experience. This cruel blow of fate put an end to all desire on the +part of the bereaved husband and father to remain in New York, +whither he had come to live mainly to please his women folk, as he +called them. As soon as he recovered from the bewilderment of the +shock, Mr. Parsons sent for the architect who had taken Littleton's +place, and who had just begun the subservient task of fusing +diverse types of architecture in order to satisfy an American +woman's appetite for startling effect, and told him to arrange to +dispose of the lot and its immature walls to the highest bidder. +His precise plans for the future were still uncertain when Selma +called on him, and found comfort for her own miseries in +ministering to his solitude, but he expressed an inclination to +return to his native Western town, as the most congenial spot in +which to end his days. Selma, whose soul was full of Benham, +suggested it as an alternative, enlarging with contagious +enthusiasm on its civic merits. The crushed old man listened with +growing attention. Already the germs of a plan for the disposition +of his large property were sprouting in his mind to provide him +with a refuge from despondency. He was a reticent man, not in the +habit of confiding his affairs until ready to act, but he paid +interested heed to Selma's eulogy of the bustling energy and rapid +growth of Benham. His preliminary thought had been that it would +make him happy to endow his native town, which was a small and +inconspicuous place, with a library building. But, as his visitor +referred to the attractions and admirable public spirit of the +thriving city, which was in the same State as his own home, he +silently reasoned that residence there need not interfere with his +original project, and that he might find a wide and more important +field for his benefactions in a community so representative of +American ideas and principles.</p> +<p>Selma's visits of condolence to Mr. Parsons were interrupted by +the illness of her own husband. In reflecting, subsequently, she +remembered that he had seemed weary and out of sorts for several +days, but her conscious attention was invoked by his coming home +early in the afternoon, suffering from a violent chill, and +manifestly in a state of physical collapse. He went to bed at once; +Selma brought blankets and a hot-water bottle, and Dr. George Page +was sent for. Dr. Page was the one of Littleton's friends whom +Selma had unsuccessfully yearned to know better. She had never been +able to understand him exactly, but he fascinated her in spite +of—perhaps because of—his bantering manner. She found +difficulty in reconciling it with his reputation for hard work and +masterly skill in his profession. She was constantly hoping to +extract from him something worthy of his large, solid face, with +its firm mouth and general expression of reserve force, but he +seemed always bent on talking nonsense in her society, and more +than once the disagreeable thought had occurred to her that he was +laughing at her. He had come to the house after her marriage now +and then, but during the past year or two she had scarcely seen +him. The last time when they had met, Selma had taxed him with his +neglect of her.</p> +<p>His reply had been characteristically elusive and +unsatisfactory. "I will not attempt to frame excuses for my +behavior, Mrs. Littleton, for no reason which I could offer would +be a justification."</p> +<p>But on the present occasion his greeting was grave and +eager.</p> +<p>"Wilbur sick? I feared as much. I warned Pauline two months ago +that he was overworking, and only last week I told him that he +would break down if he did not go away for a fortnight's rest."</p> +<p>"I wish you had spoken to me."</p> +<p>Selma noted with satisfaction that there was no raillery in his +manner now. He bent his gaze on her searchingly.</p> +<p>"Have you not noticed that he looked ill and tired?"</p> +<p>She did not flinch. Why indeed should she? "A little. He tired +himself, I think, over the designs for Wetmore College, which he +did in addition to his other work. But since the award was made it +has seemed to me that he was looking better."</p> +<p>She started to lead the way to Wilbur's room, but the doctor +paused, and regarding her again fixedly, as though he had formed a +resolution to ferret the secrets of her soul, said laconically:</p> +<p>"Is he happy?"</p> +<p>"Happy?" she echoed.</p> +<p>"Has he anything on his mind, I mean—anything except his +work?"</p> +<p>"Nothing—that is," she added, looking up at her inquisitor +with bright, interested eyes, "nothing except that he is very +conscientious—over-conscientious I sometimes think." To be +bandying psychological analyses with this able man was an edifying +experience despite her concern for Wilbur.</p> +<p>"I see," he answered dryly, and for an instant there was a +twinkle in his eyes. Yet he added, "To make a correct diagnosis it +is important to know all the facts of the case."</p> +<p>"Of course," she said solemnly, reassured in her belief that she +was being consulted and was taking part in the treatment of her +husband's malady.</p> +<p>She accompanied Dr. Page to Wilbur's bed-side. He conversed in a +cheery tone with his friend while he took his temperature and made +what seemed to her a comparatively brief examination. Selma jumped +to the conclusion that there was nothing serious the matter. The +moment they had left the room, the doctor's manner changed, and he +said with alert concern:</p> +<p>"Your husband is very ill; he has pneumonia. I am going to send +for a nurse."</p> +<p>"A nurse? I will nurse him myself, Dr. Page."</p> +<p>It seemed to her the obvious thing to do. She spoke proudly, for +it flashed into her mind that here was the opportunity to redeem +the situation with Wilbur. She would tend him devotedly and when he +had been restored to health by her loving skill, perhaps he would +appreciate her at her worth, and recognize that she had thwarted +him only to help him.</p> +<p>The doctor's brow darkened, and he said with an emphasis which +was almost stern: "Mrs. Littleton, I do not wish to alarm you, but +it is right that you should know that Wilbur's symptoms are grave. +I hope to save his life, but it can be saved only by trained skill +and attendance. Inexperienced assistance, however devoted, would be +of no use in a case like this."</p> +<p>"But I only wished to nurse him."</p> +<p>"I know it; I understand perfectly. You supposed that anyone +could do that. At least that you could. I shall return in an hour +at the latest with a nurse who was trained for three years in a +hospital to fit her to battle for valuable lives."</p> +<p>Selma flushed with annoyance. She felt that she was being +ridiculed and treated as though she were an incapable doll. She +divined that by his raillery he had been making fun of her, and +forthwith her predilection was turned to resentment. Not nurse her +husband? Did this brow-beating doctor realize that, as a girl, she +had been the constant attendant of her invalid father, and that +more than once it had occurred to her that her true mission in life +might be to become a nurse? Training? She would prove to him that +she needed no further training. These were her thoughts, and she +felt like crying, because he had humiliated her at a time like +this. Yet she had let Dr. Page go without a word. She returned to +Wilbur and established herself beside his bed. He tried to smile at +her coming.</p> +<p>"I think I shall be better to-morrow. It is only a heavy cold," +he said, but already he found difficulty in speaking.</p> +<p>"I have come to nurse you. The blankets and hot-water bottle +have made you warmer, haven't they? Nod; you mustn't talk."</p> +<p>"Yes," he whispered huskily.</p> +<p>She felt his forehead, and it was burning. She took his hand and +saying, "Sh! You ought not to talk," held it in her own. Then there +was silence save for Wilbur's uneasy turning. It was plain that he +was very uncomfortable. She realized that he was growing worse, and +though she chose to believe that the doctor had exaggerated the +seriousness of the case in order to affront her, the thought came +that he might die. She had never considered such a possibility +before. What should she do? She would be a widow without children +and without means, for she knew that Wilbur had laid up little if +anything. She would have to begin life over again—a pathetic +prospect, yet interesting. Even this conjecture of such a dire +result conjured up a variety of possible methods of livelihood and +occupation which sped through her mind.</p> +<p>The return of Dr. Page with a nurse cut short these painful yet +engrossing speculations. His offensive manner appeared to have +exhausted itself, but he proceeded to install his companion in +Wilbur's room. Selma would have liked to turn her out of the house, +but realized that she could not run the risk of taking issue with +him at a time when her husband's life might be in danger. With an +injured air yet in silence she beheld the deliberate yet swift +preparations. Once or twice Dr. Page asked her to procure for him +some article or appliance likely to be in the house, speaking with +a crisp, business-like preoccupation which virtually ignored her +existence, yet was free from offence. His soul evidently was +absorbed by his patient, whom he observed with alert watchfulness, +issuing brief directions now and then to his white-capped, +methodical, and noiseless assistant. Selma sat with her hands +before her in a corner of the bed-room, practically ignored. The +shadows deepened and a maid announced dinner. Dr. Page looked at +his watch.</p> +<p>"I shall pass the night here," he said.</p> +<p>"Is he worse?"</p> +<p>"The disease is making progress and must run its course. This is +only the beginning. You should eat your dinner, for you will need +your strength," he added with simple graciousness.</p> +<p>"But I am doing nothing," she blurted.</p> +<p>"If there is anything you can do I will let you know."</p> +<p>Their eyes met. His were gray and steady, but kind. She felt +that he chose to treat her like a child, yet that he was trying to +be considerate. She was galled, but after all, he was the doctor, +and Wilbur had the utmost confidence in him, so she must submit. +She ate her dinner, and when she returned preparations were being +made for the night. The nurse was to use a lounge at the foot of +Wilbur's bed. Dr. Page asked permission to occupy the dressing-room +adjoining, so as to be within easy call. He established himself +there with a book, returning at short intervals to look at his +patient. Selma had resumed her seat. It was dark save for a night +lamp. In the stillness the only sounds were the ticking of the +clock on the mantel-piece and Wilbur's labored breathing. It seemed +as though he were struggling for his life. What should she do if he +died? Why was she debarred from tending him? It was cruel. Tears +fell on her hand. She stared into the darkness, twisting her +fingers, until at last, as though to show her independence, she +stepped to the bed on tip-toe. Wilbur's eyes were open. He put out +his hand, and, taking hers, touched it to his burning lips.</p> +<p>"Good-night, Selma," he murmured.</p> +<p>She stooped and kissed his brow. "I am here beside you, +Wilbur."</p> +<p>A figure stood behind her. She turned, expecting to encounter +the white-capped sentinel. It was Dr. Page. He touched her gently +on the arm. "We must let him rest now. You can do no good. Won't +you go to bed?"</p> +<p>"Oh, no. I shall sit with him all night."</p> +<p>"Very well. But it is important that you should not speak to +him," he said with another touch of emphasis.</p> +<p>She resumed her seat and sat out the night, wide-awake and +conscious of each movement on Wilbur's part. He was restless and +moaning. Twice the nurse summoned the doctor, and two or three +times he came to the bed-side of his own accord. She felt slighted, +and once, when it seemed to her that Wilbur was in distress and +anxious for something, she forestalled the nurse.</p> +<p>"He wishes water," Selma said sternly, and she fetched a glass +from the table and let him drink.</p> +<p>Dr. Page took breakfast with her. She was conscious that somehow +her vigil had affected his estimate of her, for his speech was +frank and direct, as though he considered her now more fit to be +treated with confidence.</p> +<p>"He is very ill, but he is holding his own. If you will lie down +for a few hours, I will call you to take Miss Barker's place while +she rests."</p> +<p>This was gratifying, and tended to assuage her bitterness. But +the doctor appeared to her anxious, and spent only a few minutes at +table. He said as he rose,</p> +<p>"Excuse me, but Pauline—does she know?"</p> +<p>"I will send her word."</p> +<p>Selma would have been glad to dispense with the presence of her +sister-in-law. Their relations had not been sympathetic since the +episode of Miss Bailey, and, though Pauline still dined at the +house once a week, the intercourse between them had become reserved +and perfunctory. She grudged sharing with her what might be +Wilbur's last hours. She grudged, too, permitting her to help to +nurse him, especially now that her own capabilities were in the way +of being recognized, for she remembered Dr. Page's partiality for +her. Still, she appreciated that she must let her know.</p> +<p>Pauline arrived speedily, and Selma found herself sobbing in her +arms. She was pleased by this rush of feeling on her own part, and, +confirmed in her belief that her sister-in-law was cold because she +did not break down, and, shrinking from her efforts to comfort her, +she quickly regained her self-control. Pauline seemed composed and +cheerful, but the unceasing watchfulness and manifest tension of +the doctor were disconcerting, and as the afternoon shadows +deepened, the two women sat grave and silent, appalled by the +suspicion that Wilbur's condition was eminently critical. Yet Dr. +Page volunteered to say to them presently:</p> +<p>"If his heart holds out, I am hopeful that he will pull +through."</p> +<p>Dr. Page had given up all his duties for the sake of Wilbur. He +never left the house, manifestly devoting, as shown by the +unflagging, absorbed scrutiny with which he noted every symptom and +change, the fullest measure of his professional skill and a +heart-felt purpose to save his friend's life if human brain or +human concentration could avail. And yet he stated to Pauline in +Selma's hearing that, beyond keeping up the patient's strength by +stimulants, science was practically helpless, and that all they +could do was to wait.</p> +<p>And so they sat, still and unemployed watchers, while day turned +into darkness. From time to time, by the night-lamp, Selma saw +Pauline smiling at her as though in defiance of whatever fate might +have in store. Selma herself felt the inclination neither to smile +nor to weep. She sat looking before her with her hands clasped, +resenting the powerlessness of the few remedies used, and impatient +of the inactivity and relentless silence. Why did not the doctor +adopt more stringent measures? Surely there was something to be +done to enable Wilbur to combat the disease. Dr. Page had the +reputation of being a skilful physician, and, presumably, was doing +his best; but was it not possible, was it not sensible, to suppose +there was a different and better way of treating pneumonia—a +way which was as superior to the conventional and stereotyped +method as the true American point of view was superior in other +matters?</p> +<p>It came over her as a conviction that if she were +elsewhere—in Benham, for instance—her husband could be +readily and brilliantly cured. This impassive mode of treatment +seemed to her of one piece with the entire Littleton surroundings, +the culmination of which was Pauline smiling in the face of death. +She yearned to do something active and decided. Yet, how helpless +she was! This arbitrary doctor was following his own dictates +without a word to anyone, and without suspecting the existence of +wiser expedients.</p> +<p>In a moment of rebellion she rose, and swiftly approaching +Wilbur's bed, exclaimed, fervently: "Is there not something we can +do for you, darling? Something you feel will do you good?"</p> +<p>The sufferer faintly smiled and feebly shook his head, and at +the same moment she was drawn away by a firm hand, and Dr. Page +whispered: "He is very weak. Entire rest is his only chance. The +least exertion is a drain on his vitality."</p> +<p>"Surely there must be some medicine—some powerful +application which will help his breathing," she retorted, and she +detected again the semblance of laughter in the doctor's eyes.</p> +<p>"Everything which modern science can do is being done, Mrs. +Littleton."</p> +<p>What was there but to resume her seat and helpless vigil? Modern +science? The word grated on her ears. It savored to her of narrow +medical tyranny, and distrust of aspiring individuality. Wilbur was +dying, and all modern science saw fit to do was to give him brandy +and wait. And she, his wife—the one who loved him best in the +world, was powerless to intervene. Nay, she had intervened, and +modern science had mocked her.</p> +<p>Selma's eyes, like the glint of two swords, bent themselves on +her husband's bed. A righteous anger reinforced her grieving heart +and made her spirit militant, while the creeping hours passed. Over +and over she pursued the tenor of her protest until her wearied +system sought refuge in sleep. She was not conscious of slumbering, +but she reasoned later that she must have slept, for she suddenly +became conscious of a touch on the shoulder and a vibrant utterance +of her name.</p> +<p>"Selma, Selma, you must come at once."</p> +<p>Her returning wits realized that it was Pauline who was arousing +her and urging her to Wilbur's bed-side. She sprang forward, and +saw the light of existence fading from her husband's eyes into the +mute dulness of death. Dr. Page was bending over him in a +desperate, but vain, effort to force some restorative between his +lips. At the foot of the bed stood the nurse, with an expression +which betrayed what had occurred.</p> +<p>"What is it, Wilbur? What have they done to you? What has +happened?" Selma cried, looking from one to the other, though she +had discerned the truth in a flash. As she spoke, Dr. Page desisted +from his undertaking, and stepped back from the bed, and instantly +Selma threw herself on her knees and pressed her face upon +Littleton's lifeless features. There was no response. His spirit +had departed.</p> +<p>"His heart could not stand the strain. That is the great peril +in pneumonia," she heard the doctor murmur.</p> +<p>"He is dead," she cried, in a horrified outburst, and she looked +up at the pitying group with the gaze of an afflicted lioness. She +caught sight of Pauline smiling through her tears—that same +unprotesting, submissive smile—and holding out her hands to +her. Selma, rising, turned away, and as her sister-in-law sought to +put her arm about her, evaded the caress.</p> +<p>"No—no," she said. Then facing her, added, with aggrieved +conviction:</p> +<p>"I cannot believe that Wilbur's death was necessary. Why was not +something energetic done?"</p> +<p>Pauline flushed, but, ascribing the calumny to distress, she +held her peace, and said, simply:</p> +<p>"Sh! dear. You will understand better by and by."</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="BOOK_III" id="BOOK_III"></a><i>BOOK III.</i></h2> +<h2>THE SUCCESS</h2> +<h3>CHAPTER I.</h3> +<p>It had never occurred to Selma that she might lose her husband. +Even with his shortcomings he was so important to her from the +point of view of support, and her scheme of life was so interwoven +with his, she had taken for granted that he would live as long as +she desired. She felt that destiny had a second time been signally +cruel to her, and that she was drinking deeply of the cup of +sorrow. She was convinced that Wilbur, had he lived, would have +moved presently to Benham, in accordance with her desire, and that +they would then have been completely happy again. Instead he was +dead and under the sod, and she was left to face the world with no +means save $5,000 from his life insurance and the natural gifts and +soul which God had given her.</p> +<p>She appreciated that she was still a comparatively young woman, +and that, notwithstanding her love for Wilbur, she had been unable +as his wife to exhibit herself to the world in her true light. She +was free once more to lead her own life, and to obtain due +recognition for her ideas and principles. She deplored with a grief +which depleted the curve of her oval cheeks the premature end of +her husband's artistic career—an aspiring soul cut off on the +threshold of success—yet, though of course she never squarely +made the reflection, she was aware that the development of her own +life was more intrinsically valuable to the world than his, and +that of the two it was best that he should be taken. She was sad, +sore against Providence, and uncertain as to the future. But she +was keenly conscious that she had a future, and she was eager to be +stirring. Still, for the moment, the outlook was perplexing. What +was she to do? First, and certainly, she desired to shake the dust +of New York from her feet at the earliest opportunity. She inclined +toward Benham as a residence, and to the lecture platform, +supplemented by literature, and perhaps eventually the stage, as a +means of livelihood. She believed in her secret soul that she could +act. Her supposed facility in acquiring the New York manner had +helped to generate that impression. It seemed to her more than +probable that with a little instruction as to technical stage +business she could gain fame and fortune almost at once as an +actress of tragedy or melodrama. Comedy she despised as unworthy of +her. But the stage appealed to her only on the ground of income. +The life of an actress lacked the ethical character which she liked +to associate with whatever she did. To be sure, a great actress was +an inspiring influence. Nevertheless she preferred some more +obviously improving occupation, provided it would afford a suitable +support. Yet was it fitting that she should be condemned to do hack +work for her daily bread instead of something to enlighten and +uplift the community in which she lived? She considered that she +had served her apprenticeship by teaching school and writing for +the newspapers, and she begrudged spending further time in +subordinate work. Better on the whole a striking success on the +stage than this, for after she had made a name and money she could +retire and devote herself to more congenial undertakings. +Nevertheless her conscience told her that a theatrical career must +be regarded as a last resort, and she appreciated the importance of +not making a hasty decision as to what she would do. The lease of +her house would not expire for six months, and it seemed to her +probable that even in New York, where she was not understood, +someone would realize her value as a manager of some intellectual +or literary movement and make overtures to her. She wrote to Mrs. +Earle and received a cordial response declaring that Benham would +welcome her with open arms, a complimentary though somewhat vague +certificate. She sent a line also to Mr. Dennison, informing him +that she hoped soon to submit some short stories for his magazine, +and received a guarded but polite reply to the effect that he would +be glad to read her manuscripts.</p> +<p>While she was thus deliberating and winding up her husband's +affairs, Mr. Parsons, who had been absent from New York at the time +of Wilbur's decease, called and bluntly made the announcement that +he had bought a house in Benham, was to move there immediately, and +was desirous that she should live with him as his companion and +housekeeper on liberal pecuniary terms.</p> +<p>"I am an old man," he said, "and my health is not what it used +to be. I need someone to look after me and to keep me company. I +like your chatty ways, and, if I have someone smart and brisk +around like you, I sha'n't be thinking so often that I'm all alone +in the world. It'll be dull for you, I guess; but you'll be keeping +quiet for the present wherever you are; and when the time comes +that you wish to take notice again I won't stand in the way of your +amusing yourself."</p> +<p>To this homely plea Selma returned a beatific smile. It struck +her as an ideal arrangement; a golden opportunity for him, and +convenient and promising for her. In the first place she was +accorded the mission of cheering and guarding the declining years +of this fine old man, whom she had come to look on with esteem and +liking. And at the same time as his companion—the virtual +mistress of his house, for she knew perfectly well that as a +genuine American he was not offering her a position less than +this—she would be able to shape her life gradually along +congenial lines, and to wait for the ripe occasion for usefulness +to present itself. In an instant a great load was lifted from her +spirit. She was thankful to be spared conscientious qualms +concerning the career of an actress, and thankful to be freed at +one bound from her New York associations—especially with +Pauline, whose attitude toward her had been further strained by her +continued conviction that Wilbur's life might have been saved. +Indeed, so completely alleviating was Mr. Parsons's proposition +that, stimulated by the thought that he was to be a greater gainer +from the plan than she, Selma gave rein to her emotions by +exclaiming with fervor:</p> +<p>"Usually I like to think important plans over before coming to a +decision; but this arrangement seems to me so sensible and natural +and mutually advantageous, Mr. Parsons, that I see no reason why I +shouldn't accept your offer now. God grant that I may be a worthy +daughter to you—and in some measure take the place of the +dear ones you have lost."</p> +<p>"That's what I want," he said. "I took a liking to you the first +time we met. Then it's settled?"</p> +<p>"Yes. I suppose," she added, after a moment's +hesitation—speaking with an accent of scorn—"I suppose +there may be people—people like those who are called +fashionable here—who will criticise the arrangement on the +ground—er—of propriety, because I'm not a relation, and +you are not very old. But I despise conventions such as that. They +may be necessary for foreigners; but they are not meant for +self-respecting American women. I fancy my sister-in-law may not +wholly approve of it, but I don't know. I shall take pleasure in +showing her and the rest that it would be wicked as well as foolish +to let a flimsy suggestion of evil interfere with the happiness of +two people situated as we are."</p> +<p>Mr. Parsons seemed puzzled at first, as though he did not +understand exactly what she meant, but when she concluded he +said:</p> +<p>"You come to me, as you have yourself stated, on the footing of +a daughter. If folk are not content to mind their own business, I +guess we needn't worry because they don't happen to be suited. +There's one or two relations of mine would be glad to be in your +shoes, but I don't know of anything in the Bible or the +Constitution of the United States which forbids an old man from +choosing the face he'll have opposite to him at table."</p> +<p>"Or forbids the interchange of true sympathy—that +priceless privilege," answered Selma, her liking for a sententious +speech rising paramount even to the pleasure caused her by the +allusion to her personal appearance. Nevertheless it was agreeable +to be preferred to his female cousins on the score of +comeliness.</p> +<p>Accordingly, within six months of her husband's death, the +transition to Benham was accomplished, and Selma was able to +encounter the metaphorically open arms, referred to by Mrs. Earle, +without feeling that she was a less important person than when she +had been whisked off as a bride by Littleton, the rising architect. +She was returning as the confidential, protecting companion of a +successful, self-made old man, who was relying on her to make his +new establishment a pleasure to himself and a credit to the +wide-awake city in which he had elected to pass his remaining days. +She was returning to a house on the River Drive (the aristocratic +boulevard of Benham, where the river Nye makes a broad sweep to the +south); a house not far distant from the Flagg mansion at which, as +Mrs. Lewis Babcock, she had looked askance as a monument inimical +to democratic simplicity. Wilbur had taught her that it was very +ugly, and now that she saw it again after a lapse of years she was +pleased to note that her new residence, though slightly smaller, +had a more modern and distinguished air.</p> +<p>The new house was of rough-hewn red sandstone, combining solid +dignity and some artistic merit, for Benham had not stood still +architecturally speaking. The River Drive was a grotesque, yet on +the whole encouraging exhibit. Most of the residences had been +designed by native talent, but under the spur of experiment even +the plain, hard-headed builders had been constrained to dub +themselves "architects," and adopt modern methods; and here and +there stood evidences that the seed planted by Mrs. Hallett Taylor +and Littleton had borne fruit, for Benham possessed at least half a +dozen private houses which could defy criticism.</p> +<p>The one selected by Mr. Parsons was not of these half dozen; but +the plain, hard-headed builder who had erected it for the original +owner was shrewd and imitative, and had avoided ambitious +deviations from the type he wished to copy—the red sandstone, +swell front variety, which ten years before would have seemed to +the moral sense of Benham unduly cheerful. Mr. Parsons was so +fortunate as to be able to buy it just after it had been completed, +together with a stable and half an acre of ground, from one of the +few Benhamites whose financial ventures had ended in disaster, and +who was obliged to sell. It was a more ambitious residence than Mr. +Parsons had desired, but it was the most available, inasmuch as he +could occupy it at once. It had been painted and decorated within, +but was unfurnished. Mr. Parsons, as a practical business man, +engaged the builder to select and supply the bedroom and solid +fittings, but it occurred to him to invite Selma to choose the +furnishings for what he called the show rooms.</p> +<p>Selma was delighted to visit once more the New York stores, free +from the bridle of Wilbur's criticism and unrestrained by economy. +She found to her satisfaction that the internal decoration of the +new house was not unlike that of the Williamses' first +habitation—that is, gay and bedizened; and she was resolved +in the selection of her draperies and ornaments to buy things which +suggested by their looks that they were handsome, and whose claim +to distinction was not mere sober unobtrusiveness. She realized +that some of her purchases would have made Wilbur squirm, but since +his death she felt more sure than ever that even where art was +concerned his taste was subdued, timid, and unimaginative. For +instance, she believed that he would not have approved her choice +of light-blue satin for the upholstery of the drawing-room, nor of +a marble statue—an allegorical figure of Truth, duly draped, +as its most conspicuous ornament.</p> +<p>Selma was spared the embarrassment of her first husband's +presence. Divorce is no bar to ordinary feminine curiosity as to +the whereabouts of a former partner for life, and she had proved no +exception to the rule. Mrs. Earle had kept her posted as to +Babcock's career since their separation, and what she learned had +tended merely to demonstrate the wisdom and justice of her action. +As a divorced man he had, after a time, resumed the free and easy, +coarse companionship to which he had been partial before his +marriage, and had gradually become a heavy drinker. Presently he +had neglected his business, a misfortune of which a rival concern +had been quick to take advantage. The trend of his affairs had been +steadily downhill, and had come to a crisis three months before +Littleton's death, when, in order to avoid insolvency, he sold out +his factory and business to the rival company, and accepted at the +same hands the position of manager in a branch office in a city +further west. Consequently, Selma could feel free from molestation +or an appeal to her sensibilities. She preferred to think of +Babcock as completely outside her life, as dead to her, and she +would have disliked the possibility of meeting him in the flesh +while shopping on Central avenue. It had been the only drawback to +her proposed return to Benham.</p> +<p>During the years of Selma's second marriage Benham had waxed +rapidly in population and importance. People had been attracted +thither by the varied industries of the city—alike those in +search of fortune, and those offering themselves for employment in +the mills, oil-works, and pork factories; and at the date of +Littleton's death it boasted over one hundred and fifty thousand +inhabitants. It was already the second city of the State in point +of population, and was freely acknowledged to be the most +wide-awake and enterprising. The civic spirit of Benham was reputed +to be constantly and increasingly alert and progressive, +notwithstanding the river Nye still ran the color of bean-soup +above where it was drawn for drinking purposes, and the ability of +a plumber, who had become an alderman, to provide a statue or lay +out a public park was still unquestioned by the majority. Even +to-day, when trained ability has obtained recognition in many +quarters, the Benhamites at large are apt to resent criticism as +aristocratic fault-finding; yet at this time that saving minority +of souls who refused to regard everything which Benham did as +perfection, and whose subsequent forlorn hopes and desperately won +victories have little by little taught the community wisdom, if not +modesty, was beginning to utter disagreeable strictures.</p> +<p>Mrs. Margaret Rodney Earle, when she opened her arms to Selma +and folded her to her bosom with a hug of welcome, was raging +inwardly against this minority, and they had not been many minutes +together before she gave utterance to her grievance.</p> +<p>"You have come just in time to give us your sympathy and support +in an important matter, my dear. Miss Bailey has been nominated for +the School Board at the instance of the Executive Committee of the +Benham Institute. We supposed that she would have plain sailing, +for many of the voters have begun to recognize the justice of +having one or two women on the School Board, and by hard work we +had succeeded in getting her name put on the Democratic ticket. +Judge, then, of our feelings when we learned that the Reform Club +had decided to blacklist and refuse to support at the polls three +of the six names on the ticket, including our Luella Bailey, on the +ground of lack of experience in educational matters. The Reform +Club has nominated three other persons—one of them a woman. +And who do you suppose is the head and front of this unholy +crusade?"</p> +<p>"It sounds like Mrs. Hallett Taylor," answered Selma, +sternly.</p> +<p>"How did you know? What made you think so? How clever of you, +Selma! Yes, she is the active spirit."</p> +<p>"It was she who was at the bottom of Miss Bailey's rejection +when she was my candidate for a position at Everdean College."</p> +<p>"To be sure. I remember. This Reform Club, which was started a +year or so ago, and which sets itself up as a censor of what we are +trying to do in Benham, has nominated a Miss Snow, who is said to +have travelled abroad studying the school systems of Europe."</p> +<p>"As if that would help us in any way."</p> +<p>"Precisely. She has probably come home with her head full of +queer-fangled notions which would be out of keeping with our +institutions. Just the reason why she shouldn't be chosen. We are +greatly troubled as to the result, dear, for though we expect to +win, the prejudice of some men against voting for a woman under any +circumstances will operate against our candidate, so that this +action of the Reform Club may possibly be the means of electing one +of the men on the Republican ticket instead of Luella. Miss Snow +hasn't the ghost of a chance. But that isn't all. These Reform Club +nominations are preliminary to a bill before the Legislature to +take away from the people the right to elect members of the school +committee, and substitute an appointive board of specialists to +serve during long terms of good behavior. As Mr. Lyons says, that's +the real issue involved. It's quixotic and it isn't necessary. +Haven't we always prided ourselves on our ability to keep our +public schools the best in the world? And is there any doubt, +Selma, that either you or I would be fully qualified to serve on +the School Board though we haven't made any special study of +primers and geographies? Luella Bailey hasn't had any special +training, but she's smart and progressive, and the poor thing would +like the recognition. We fixed on her because we thought it would +help her to get ahead, for she has not been lucky in obtaining +suitable employment. As Mr. Lyons says, a serious principle is +involved. He has come out strong against the movement and declares +that it is a direct menace to the intelligence of the plain people +of the United States and a subtle invasion of their liberties."</p> +<p>"Mr. Lyons? What Mr. Lyons is that?"</p> +<p>"Yes, dear, it is the same one who managed your affair. Your Mr. +Lyons. He has become an important man since you left Benham. He +speaks delightfully, and is likely to receive the next Democratic +nomination for Congress. He is in accord with all liberal +movements, and a foe of everything exclusive, unchristian or +arbitrary. He has declared his intention to oppose the bill when it +is introduced, and I shall devote myself body and soul to working +against it in case Luella Bailey is defeated. It is awkward because +Mrs. Taylor is a member of the Institute, though she doesn't often +come, and the club has never been in politics. But here when there +was a chance to do Luella Bailey a good turn, and I'd been able +through some of my newspaper friends to get her on the ticket, it +seems to me positively unchristian—yes, that's the +word—to try to keep her off the board. There are some things +of course, Luella couldn't do—and if the position were +superintendent of a hospital, for instance, I dare say that special +training would be advantageous, though nursing can be picked up +very rapidly by a keen intelligence: but to raise such objections +in regard to a candidate for the School Board seems to me +ridiculous as well as cruel. What we need there are open, receptive +minds, free from fads and prejudice—wide-awake, progressive +enthusiastic intellects. It worries me to see the Institute dragged +into politics, but it is my duty to resist this undemocratic +movement."</p> +<p>"Surely," exclaimed Selma, with fire. "I am thankful I have come +in time to help you. I understand exactly. I have been passing +through just such experiences in New York—encountering and +being rebuffed by just such people as those who belong to this +Reform Club. My husband was beginning to see through them and to +recognize that we were both tied hand and foot by their narrowness +and lack of enthusiasm when he died. If he had lived, we would have +moved to Benham shortly in order to escape from bondage. And one +thing is certain, dear Mrs. Earle," she continued with intensity, +"we must not permit this carping spirit of hostility to original +and spontaneous effort to get a foothold in Benham. We must crush +it, we must stamp it out."</p> +<p>"Amen, my dear. I am delighted to hear you talk like that. I +declare you would be very effective in public if you were +roused."</p> +<p>"Yes, I am roused, and I am willing to speak in public if it +becomes necessary in order to keep Benham uncontaminated by the +insidious canker of exclusiveness and the distrust of aspiring +souls which a few narrow minds choose to term untrained. Am +<i>I</i> untrained? Am <i>I</i> superficial and common? Do <i>I</i> +lack the appearance and behavior of a lady?"</p> +<p>Selma accompanied these interrogatories with successive waves of +the hand, as though she were branding so many falsehoods.</p> +<p>"Assuredly not, Selma. I consider you"—and here Mrs. Earle +gasped in the process of choosing her words—"I consider you +one of our best trained and most independent minds—cultured, +a friend of culture, and an earnest seeker after truth. If you are +not a lady, neither am I, neither is anyone in Benham. Why do you +ask, dear?" And without waiting for an answer, Mrs. Earle added +with a touch of material wisdom, "You return to Benham under +satisfactory, I might say, brilliant auspices. You will be the +active spirit in this fine house, and be in a position to promote +worthy intellectual and moral movements."</p> +<p>"Thank heavens, yes. And to combat those which are unworthy and +dangerous," exclaimed Selma, clasping her fingers, "I can count on +the support of Mr. Parsons, God bless him! And it would seem at +last as if I had, a real chance—a real chance at last. Mrs. +Earle—Cora—I know you can keep a secret. I feel almost +as though you were my mother, for there is no one else now to whom +I can talk like this. I have not been happy in New York. I thought +I was happy at first, but lately we have been miserable. My +marriage—er—they drove my husband to the wall, and +killed him. He was sensitive and noble, but not practical, and he +fell a victim to the mercenary despotism of our surroundings. When +I tried to help him they became jealous of me, and shut their doors +in our faces."</p> +<p>"You poor, poor child. I have suspected for some time that +something was wrong."</p> +<p>"It nearly killed me. But now, thank heaven, I breathe freely +once more. I have lost my dear husband, but I have escaped from +that prison-house; and with his memory to keep me merciless, I am +eager to wage war against those influences which are conspiring to +fetter the free-born soul and stifle spontaneity. Luella Bailey +must be elected, and these people be taught that foreign ideas may +flourish in New York, but cannot obtain root in Benham."</p> +<p>Mrs. Earle wiped her eyes, which were running over as the result +of this combination of confidence and eloquence.</p> +<p>"If you don't mind my saying so, Selma, I never saw anyone so +much improved as you. You always had ideas, and were well equipped, +but now you speak as though you could remove mountains if +necessary. It's a blessing for us as well as you that you're back +among us once more."</p> +<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3> +<p>When Selma uttered her edict that Luella Bailey must be elected +she did not know that the election was only three days off. When +she was told this by Mrs. Earle, she cast about feverishly during a +few hours for the means to compass certain victory, then promptly +and sensibly disclaimed responsibility for the result, suggesting +even that her first appearance as a remover of mountains be +deferred to the time when the bill should be before the +Legislature. As she aptly explained to Mrs. Earle, the canvass was +virtually at an end, she was unacquainted with the practical +features of the situation, and was to all intents a stranger in +Benham after so long an absence. Mrs. Earle was unable to combat +the logic of these representations, but she obtained from Selma a +ready promise to accompany the Benham Institute to the final rally +on the evening before election day and sit in a prominent place on +the platform. The Institute was to attend as a body by way of +promoting the cause of its candidate, for though the meeting was +called in aid of the entire Democratic municipal ticket, Hon. James +O. Lyons, the leading orator of the occasion, had promised to +devote special attention to Miss Bailey, whose election, owing to +the attitude of the Reform Club, was recognized as in doubt. Selma +also agreed to accompany Mrs. Earle in a hack on the day itself, +and career through the city in search of recalcitrant or +indifferent female voters, for the recently acquired right of +Benham women to vote for members of the School Board had not as yet +been exercised by any considerable number of the emancipated +sex.</p> +<p>As a part of the programme of the meeting the Benham Institute, +or the major portion of it (for there were a few who sympathized +openly with Mrs. Taylor), filed showily on to the platform headed +by Mrs. Earle, who waved her pocket handkerchief at the audience, +which was the occasion for renewed hand-clapping and enthusiasm. +Selma walked not far behind and took her seat among the forty other +members, who all wore white silk badges stamped in red with the +sentiment "A vote for Luella Bailey is a vote for the liberty of +the people." Her pulses were throbbing with interest and pleasure. +This was the sort of thing she delighted in, and which she had +hoped would be a frequent incident of her life in New York. It +pleased her to think how naturally and easily she had taken her +place in the ranks of these earnest, enthusiastic workers, and that +she had merely to express a wish in order to have leadership urged +upon her. Matters had shaped themselves exactly as she desired. Mr. +Parsons not only treated her completely as an equal, but consulted +her in regard to everything. He had already become obviously +dependent on her, and had begun to develop the tendencies of an +invalid.</p> +<p>The exercises were of a partisan cast. The theory that municipal +government should be independent of party politics had been an +adage in Benham since its foundation, and been disregarded annually +by nine-tenths of the population ever since. This was a Democratic +love-feast. The speakers and the audience alike were in the best of +spirits, for there was no uncertainty in the minds of the party +prophets as to the result of the morrow's ballot—excepting +with regard to Miss Bailey. The rest of the ticket would +unquestionably be elected; accordingly all hands and voices were +free to focus their energies in her behalf and thus make the +victory a clean sweep. Nevertheless the earlier speakers felt +obliged to let their eloquence flow over the whole range of +political misgovernment from the White House and the national +platform down, although the actual issue was the choice of a mayor, +twelve aldermen and a school committee, so that only casual +reference was made to the single weak spot on the ticket until the +Hon. James O. Lyons rose to address the meeting. The reception +accorded him was more spontaneous and effusive than that which had +been bestowed on either of his predecessors, and as he stood +waiting with dignified urbanity for the applause to subside, some +rapturous admirer called for three cheers, and the tumult was +renewed.</p> +<p>Selma was thrilled. Her acquaintance with Mr. Lyons naturally +heightened her interest, and she observed him eagerly. Time had +added to his corporeal weight since he had acted as her counsel, +and enhanced the sober yet genial decorum of his bearing. His +slightly pontifical air seemed an assurance against ill-timed +levity. His cheeks were still fat and smooth shaven, but, like many +of the successful men of Benham, he now wore a chin beard—a +thick tuft of hair which in his case tapered so that it bore some +resemblance to the beard of a goat, and gave a rough-and-ready +aspect to his appearance suggestive alike of smart, solid worth and +an absence of dandified tendencies. Mr. Parsons had a thicker beard +of the same character, which Selma regarded with favor as a badge +of serious intentions.</p> +<p>"My friends," he began when the applause had subsided; then +paused and surveyed his audience in a manner which left them in +doubt as to whether he was struggling with emotion or busy in +silent prayer. "My friends, a month ago to-day the citizens of +Benham assembled to crown with appropriate and beautiful services +the monument which they, the survivors, have erected with pious +hands to perpetuate the memory of those who laid down their lives +to keep intact our beloved union of States and to banish slavery +forever from the confines of our aspiring civilization. A week ago +an equally representative assembly, without regard to creed or +party, listened to the exercises attending the dedication of the +new Court House which we have raised to Justice—that +white-robed goddess, the guardian of the liberties of the people. +Each was a notable and significant event. On each occasion I had +the honor to say a few poor words. We celebrated with bowed heads +and with garlands the deeds of the heroic dead, and now have +consecrated ourselves to the opportunities and possibilities of +peace under the law—to the revelation of the temper of our +new civilization which, tried in the furnace of war, is to be a +grand and vital power for the advancement of the human race, for +the righteous furtherance of the brotherhood of man. What is the +hope of the world?" he asked. "America—these United States, a +bulwark against tyranny, an asylum for the aspiring and the +downtrodden. The eyes of the nations are upon us. In the souls of +the survivors and of the sons and daughters of the patriots who +have died in defence of the liberties of our beloved country abide +the seed and inspiration for new victories of peace. Our privilege +be it as the heirs of Washington and Franklin and Hamilton and +Lincoln and Grant to set the nations of the earth an example of +what peace under the law may accomplish, so that the free-born son +of America from the shores of Cape Cod to the western limits of the +Golden Gate may remain a synonym for noble aims and noble deeds, +for truth and patriotism and fearlessness of soul."</p> +<p>The speaker's words had been uttered slowly at the +outset—ponderous, sonorous, sentence by sentence, like the +big drops before a heavy shower. As he warmed to his theme the +pauses ceased, and his speech flowed with the musical sweep of a +master of platform oratory. When he spoke of war his voice choked; +in speaking of peace he paused for an appreciable moment, casting +his eyes up as though he could discern the angel of national +tranquillity hovering overhead. Although this opening peroration +seemed scarcely germane to the occasion, the audience listened in +absorbed silence, spell-bound by the magnetism of his delivery. +They felt sure that he had a point in reserve to which these +splendid and agreeable truths were a pertinent introduction.</p> +<p>Proceeding, with his address, Mr. Lyons made a panegyric on +these United States of America, from the special standpoint of +their dedication to the "God of our fathers," a solemn figure of +speech. The sincerity of his patriotism was emphasized by the +religious fervor of his deduction that God was on the side of the +nation, and the nation on the side of God. Though he abstained from +direct strictures, both his manner and his matter seemed to serve a +caveat, so to speak, on the other nations by declaring that for +fineness of heart and thought, and deed, the world must look to the +land "whose wide and well-nigh boundless prairies were blossoming +with the buds of truth fanned by the breeze of liberty and +fertilized by the aspirations of a God-fearing and a God-led +population. What is the hope of the world, I repeat?" he continued. +"The plain and sovereign people of our beloved country. Whatever +menaces their liberties, whatever detracts from their, power and +infringes on their prerogatives is a peril to our institutions and +a step backward in the science of government. My friends, we are +here to-night to protest against a purpose to invade those +liberties—a deliberately conceived design to take away from +the sovereign people of this city one of their cherished +privileges—the right to decide who shall direct the policy of +our free public-school system, that priceless heritage of every +American. I beg to remind you that this contest is no mere question +of healthy rivalry between two great political parties; nor again +is it only a vigorous competition between two ambitious and +intelligent women. A ballot in behalf of our candidate will be a +vote of confidence in the ability of the plain people of this +country to adopt the best educational methods without the +patronizing dictation of aboard of specialists nurtured on foreign +and uninspiring theories of instruction. A ballot against Miss +Luella Bailey, the competent and cultivated lady whose name adds +strength and distinction to our ticket, and who has been needlessly +and wantonly opposed by those who should be her proud friends, will +signify a willingness to renounce one of our most precious +liberties—the free man's right to choose those who are to +impart to his children mastery of knowledge and love of country. I +take my stand to-night as the resolute enemy of this aristocratic +and un-American suggestion, and urge you, on the eve of election, +to devote your energies to overwhelming beneath the shower of your +fearless ballots this insult to the intelligence of the voters of +Benham, and this menace to our free and successful institutions, +which, under the guidance of the God of our fathers, we purpose to +keep perpetually progressive and undefiled."</p> +<p>A salvo of enthusiasm greeted Mr. Lyons as he concluded. His +speeches were apt to cause those whom he addressed to feel that +they were no common campaign utterances, but eloquent expressions +of principle and conviction, clothed in memorable language, as, +indeed, they were. He was fond of giving a moral or patriotic +flavor to what he said in public, for he entertained both a +profound reverence for high moral ideas and an abiding faith in the +superiority of everything American. He had arrayed himself on the +threshold of his legal career as a friend and champion of the mass +of the people—the plain and sovereign people, as he was apt +to style them in public. His first and considerable successes had +been as the counsel for plaintiffs before juries in accident cases +against large corporations, and he had thought of himself with +complete sincerity as a plain man, contesting for human rights +before the bar of justice, by the sheer might of his sonorous voice +and diligent brain. His political development had been on the same +side. Latterly the situation had become a little puzzling, though +to a man of straightforward intentions, like himself, not +fundamentally embarrassing. That is, the last four or five years +had altered both the character of his practice and his +circumstances, so that instead of fighting corporations he was now +the close adviser of a score of them; not the defender of their +accident cases, but the confidential attorney who was consulted in +regard to their vital interests, and who charged them liberal sums +for his services. He still figured in court from time to time in +his capacity of the plain man's friend, which he still considered +himself to be no less than before, but most of his time was devoted +to protecting the legal interests of the railroad, gas, water, +manufacturing, mining and other undertakings which, the rapid +growth of Benham had forgotten. And as a result of this commerce +with the leading men of affairs in Benham, and knowledge of what +was going on, he had been able to invest his large fees to the best +advantage, and had already reaped a rich harvest from the rapid +rise in value of the securities of diverse successful enterprises. +When new projects were under consideration he was in a position to +have a finger in the pie, and he was able to borrow freely from a +local bank in which he was a director.</p> +<p>He was puzzled—it might be said distressed—how to +make these rewards of his professional prominence appear compatible +with his real political principles, so that the plain and sovereign +people would recognize as clearly as he that there was no +inconsistency in his having taken advantage of the opportunities +for professional advancement thrown in his way. He was ambitious +for political preferment, sharing the growing impression that he +was well qualified for public office, and he desired to rise as the +champion of popular ideas. Consequently he resented bitterly the +calumnies which had appeared in one or two irresponsible newspapers +to the effect that he was becoming a corporation attorney and a +capitalist. Could a man refuse legitimate business which was thrust +upon him? How were his convictions and interest in the cause of +struggling humanity altered or affected by his success at the bar? +Hence he neglected no occasion to declare his allegiance to +progressive doctrine, and to give utterance to the patriotism which +at all times was on tap in his emotional system. He had been +married, but his wife had been dead a number of years, and he made +his home with his aged mother, to whom he was apt to refer with +pious tremulousness when he desired to emphasize some domestic +situation before a jury. As a staunch member of the Methodist +Church, he was on terms of intimate association with his pastor, +and was known as a liberal contributor to domestic and foreign +missions.</p> +<p>Selma was genuinely carried away by the character of his +oratory. His sentiments were so completely in accord with her own +ideas that she felt he had left nothing unsaid, and had put the +case grandly. Here at last was a man who shared with her the +convictions with which her brain was seething—a man who was +not afraid to give public expression to his views, and who +possessed a splendid gift of statement. She had felt sure that she +would meet sympathy and kindred spirits in Benham, but her +experience in New York had so far depressed her that she had not +allowed herself to expect such a thorough-going champion. What a +contrast his solid, devotional, yet business-like aspect was to the +quizzical lightness of the men in New York she had been told were +clever, like Dr. Page and Mr. Dennison! He possessed Wilbur's ardor +and reverence, with a robustness of physique and a practical air +which Wilbur had lacked—lacked to his and her detriment. If +Wilbur had been as vigorous in body as he ought to have been, would +he have died? She had read somewhere lately that physical delicacy +was apt to react on the mind and make one's ideas too fine-spun and +unsubstantial. Here was the advantage which a man like Mr. Lyons +had over Wilbur. He was strong and thickset, and looked as though +he could endure hard work without wincing. So could she. It was a +great boon, an essential of effective manhood or womanhood. These +thoughts followed in the wake of the enthusiasm his personality had +aroused in her at the close of his address. She scarcely heard the +remarks of the next speaker, the last on the programme. Her eyes +kept straying wistfully in the direction of Mr. Lyons, and she +wondered if there would be an opportunity when the meeting was over +to let him know how much she approved of what he had said, and how +necessary she felt the promulgation, of such ideas was for the +welfare of the country.</p> +<p>She was aroused from contemplation by the voice of Mrs. Earle, +who, now that everybody was standing up preliminary to departure, +bent over her front bench on the platform to whisper, "Wasn't Mr. +Lyons splendid?"</p> +<p>"Yes, indeed," said Selma. "I should like so much to make his +acquaintance, to compare notes with him and thank him for his +brave, true words."</p> +<p>"I know he'd be pleased to meet you. I'll try to catch his eye. +I wish some of those Reform Club people could have heard what he +thought of them. There! He's looking this way. I'm going to attract +his attention." Whereupon Mrs. Earle began to nod in his direction +energetically. "He sees us now, and has noticed you. I shouldn't +wonder if he has recognized you. Follow me close, Selma, and we'll +be able to shake hands with him."</p> +<p>By dint of squeezing and stertorous declarations of her desire, +Mrs. Earle obtained a gradual passage through the crowd. Many from +the audience had ascended to the platform for the purpose of +accosting the speakers, and a large share of the interest was being +bestowed on Mr. Lyons, who was holding an impromptu reception. When +at last Mrs. Earle had worked her way to within a few feet of him, +her wheezing condition and bulk announced her approach, and +procured her consideration from the others in the line, so that she +was able to plant herself pervasively and firmly in front of her +idol and take possession of him by the fervid announcement, "You +were simply unanswerable. Eloquent, convincing, and unanswerable. +And I have brought with me an old friend, Mrs. Littleton, who +sympathizes with your superb utterances, and wishes to tell you +so."</p> +<p>As Selma stepped forward in recognition of this introduction she +vibrated to hear Mr. Lyons say, without a sign of hesitation, "A +friend whom it is a pleasure to welcome back to Benham, Mrs. +Littleton, I am pleased to meet you again."</p> +<p>Selma had hoped, and felt it her due, that he would recognize +her. Still his having done so at once was a compliment which served +to enhance the favorable opinion which she had already formed +regarding him.</p> +<p>"I have been longing for months, Mr. Lyons," she said, "to hear +someone say what you have said to-night. I am concerned, as we all +are of course, in Miss Bailey's election, and your advocacy of her +cause was most brilliant; but what I refer to—what +interested, me especially, was the splendid protest you uttered +against all movements to prevent the intelligence of the people +from asserting itself. It gave me encouragement and made me feel +that the outlook for the future is bright—that our truths +must prevail."</p> +<p>It was a maxim with Lyons that it was desirable to remember +everyone he met, and he prided himself on his ability to call +cordially by name clients or chance acquaintances whom he had not +seen for years. Nature had endowed him with a good memory for names +and faces, but he had learned to take advantage of all +opportunities to brush up his wits before they were called into +flattering, spontaneous action. When his glance, attracted by Mrs. +Earle's remote gesticulation, rested on Selma's face, he began to +ask himself at once where he had seen it before. In the interval +vouchsafed by her approach he recalled the incident of the divorce, +that her name had been Babcock, and that she had married again, but +he was still groping for the name of her husband when the necessary +clew was supplied by Mrs. Earle, and he was able to make his +recognition of her exhaustive. He noticed with approval her pretty +face and compact figure, reflecting that the slight gain in flesh +was to her advantage, and noticed also her widow's mourning. But +her eager, fluent address and zealous manner had prevented his +attention from secretly wandering with business-like foresight to +the next persons in the line of those anxious to shake his hand, +and led him to regard her a second time. He was accustomed to +compliments, but he was struck by the note of discriminating +companionship in her congratulation. He believed that he had much +at heart the very issue which she had touched upon, and it +gratified him that a woman whose appearance was so attractive to +him should single out for sympathetic enthusiasm what was in his +opinion the cardinal principle involved, instead of expatiating on +the assistance he had rendered Miss Bailey. Lyons said to himself +that here was a kindred spirit—a woman with whom conversation +would be a pleasure; with whom it would be possible to discourse on +terms of mental comradeship. He was partial to comely women, but he +did not approve of frivolity except on special and guarded +occasions.</p> +<p>"I thank you cordially for your appreciation," he answered. "You +have grasped the vital kernel of my speech and I am grateful for +your good opinion."</p> +<p>Even in addressing the other sex, Lyons could not forget the +responsibility of his frock-coat and that it was incumbent upon him +to be strictly serious in public. Nevertheless his august but glib +demeanor suited Selma's mood better than more obvious gallantry, +especially as she got the impression, which he really wished to +convey, that he admired her. It was out of the question for him to +prolong the situation in the face of those waiting to grasp his +hand, but Lyons heard with interest the statement which Mrs. Earle +managed to whisper hoarsely in his ear just as he turned to welcome +the next comer, and they were swept along:</p> +<p>"She is one of our brightest minds. The poor child has recently +lost her husband, and has come to keep Mr. Parsons company in his +new house—an ideal arrangement."</p> +<p>The identity of Mr. Parsons was well known to Lyons. He had met +him occasionally in the past in other parts of the State in +connection with business complications, and regarded him as a +practical, intelligent citizen whose name would be of value to an +aspirant for Congressional honors. It occurred to him as he shook +hands with those next in line and addressed them that it would be +eminently suitable if he should pay his respects to this new-comer +to Benham by a visit. By so doing he world kill two birds with one +stone, for he had reasoned of late that he owed it to himself to +see more of the other sex. He had no specific matrimonial +intentions; that is, he was not on the lookout for a wife; but he +approved of happy unions as one of the great bulwarks of the +community, and was well-disposed to encounter a suitable helpmate. +He should expect physical charms, dignity, capacity and a +sympathetic mind; a woman, in short, who would be an ornament to +his home, a Christian influence in society and a companion whose +intelligent tact would be likely to promote his political fortunes. +And so it happened that in the course of the next few days he found +himself thinking of Mrs. Littleton as a fine figure of a woman. +This had not happened to him before since the death of his wife, +and it made him thoughtful to the extent of asking "Why not?" For +in spite of his long frock-coat and proper demeanor, passion was +not extinct in the bosom of the Hon. James O. Lyons, and he was +capable on special and guarded occasions of telling a woman that he +loved her.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3> +<p>Miss Luella Bailey was not elected. The unenlightened prejudice +of man to prefer one of his own sex, combined with the hostility of +the Reform Club, procured her defeat, notwithstanding that the rest +of her ticket triumphed at the polls. There was some consolation +for her friends in the fact that her rival, Miss Snow, had a +considerably smaller number of votes than she. Selma solaced +herself by the reflection that, as she had been consulted only at +the twelfth hour, she was not responsible for the result, but she +felt nerved by the defeat to concentrate her energies against the +proposed bill for an appointed school board.</p> +<p>Her immediate attention and sympathy were suddenly invoked by +the illness of Mr. Parsons, who had seemed lacking in physical +vigor for some weeks, and whose symptoms culminated in a slight +paralysis, which confined him to his bed for a month, and to his +house during the remainder of the autumn. Selma rejoiced in this +opportunity to develop her capacities as a nurse, to prove how +adequate she would have been to take complete charge of her late +husband, had Dr. Page chosen to trust her. She administered with +scrupulous regularity to the invalid such medicines as were +ordered, and kept him cheerful by reading and conversation, so that +the physician in charge complimented her on her proficiency. +Trained nurses were unknown in Benham at this time, and any old or +unoccupied female was regarded as qualified to watch over the sick. +Selma appreciated from what she had observed of the conduct of +Wilbur's nurse that there was a wrong and a right way of doing +things, but she blamed Dr. Page for his failure to appreciate +instinctively that she was sure to do things suitably. It seemed to +her that he had lacked the intuitive gift to discern latent +capabilities—a fault of which the Benham practitioner proved +blameless.</p> +<p>From the large, sunny chamber in which Mr. Parsons slowly +recovered some portion of his vitality, Selma could discern the +distant beginnings of Wetmore College, pleasantly situated on an +elevation well beyond the city limits on the further side of the +winding river. An architect had been engaged to carry out Wilbur's +plans, and she watched the outlines of the new building gradually +take shape during the convalescence of her benefactor. She +recognized that the college would be theoretically a noble addition +to the standing of Benham as a city of intellectual and +æsthetic interests, but it provoked her to think that its +management was in the hands of Mrs. Hallett Taylor and her friends, +between whom and herself she felt that a chasm of irreconcilable +differences of opinion existed. Mrs. Taylor had not called on her +since her return. She believed that she was glad of this, and hoped +that some of the severely indignant criticism which she had uttered +in regard to the Reform Club movement had reached her ears. Or was +Mrs. Taylor envious of her return to Benham as the true mistress of +this fine establishment on the River Drive, so superior to her own? +Nevertheless, it would have suited Selma to have been one of the +trustees of this new college—her husband's handiwork in the +doing of which he had laid down his promising life—and the +fact that no one had sought her out and offered her the honor as a +fitting recognition of her due was secretly mortifying. The Benham +Institute had been prompt to acknowledge her presence by giving a +reception in her honor, at which she was able to recite once more, +"Oh, why should the Spirit of Mortal be proud?" with old-time +success, and she had been informed by Mrs. Earle that she was +likely to be chosen one of the Vice-Presidents at the annual +meeting. But these Reform Club people had not even done her the +courtesy to ask her to join them or consider their opinions. She +would have spurned the invitation with contempt, but it piqued her +not to know more about them; it distressed her to think that there +should exist in Benham an exclusive set which professed to be +ethically and intellectually superior and did not include her, for +she had come to Benham with the intention of leading such a +movement, to the detriment of fashion and frivolity. With Mr. +Parsons's money at her back, she was serenely confident that the +houses of the magnates of Benham—the people who corresponded +in her mind's eye to the dwellers on Fifth Avenue—would open +to her. Already there had been flattering indications that she +would be able to command attention there. She had expected to find +this so; her heart would have been broken to find it otherwise. +Still, her hope in shaking the dust of New York from her feet had +been to find in Benham an equally admirable and satisfactory +atmosphere in regard to mental and moral progress. She had come +just in time, it is true, to utter her vehement protest against +this exclusive, aristocratic movement—this arrogant +affectation of superiority, and to array herself in battle line +against it, resolved to give herself up with enthusiasm to its +annihilation. Yet the sight of the college buildings for the higher +education of women, rising without her furtherance and supervision, +and under the direction of these people, made her sad and gave her +a feeling of disappointment. Why had they been permitted to obtain +this foothold? Someone had been lacking in vigilance and foresight. +Thank heaven, with her return and a strong, popular spirit like Mr. +Lyons in the lead, these unsympathetic, so-called reformers would +speedily be confounded, and the intellectual air of Benham restored +to its original purity.</p> +<p>One afternoon while Selma's gaze happened to be directed toward +the embryo college walls, and she was incubating on the situation, +Mr. Parsons, who had seemed to be dozing, suddenly said:</p> +<p>"I should like you to write to Mr. Lyons, the lawyer, and ask +him to come to see me."</p> +<p>"I will write to-night. You know he called while you were +ill."</p> +<p>"Yes, I thought him a clever fellow when we met two or three +times on railroad matters, and I gather from what you told me about +his speech at the political meeting that he's a rising man +hereabouts. I'm going to make my will, and I need him to put it +into proper shape."</p> +<p>"I'm sure he'd do it correctly."</p> +<p>"There's not much for him to do except to make sure that the +language is legal, for I've thought it all out while I've been +lying here during these weeks. Still, it's important to have in a +lawyer to fix it so the people whom I don't intend to get my money +shan't be able to make out that I'm not in my right mind. I guess," +he added, with a laugh, "that the doctor will allow I've my wits +sufficiently for that?"</p> +<p>"Surely. You are practically well now."</p> +<p>Mr. Parsons was silent for a moment. He prided himself on being +close-mouthed about his private affairs until they were ripe for +utterance. His intention had been to defer until after the +interview with his lawyer any statement of his purpose, but it +suddenly occurred to him that it would please him to unbosom his +secret to his companion because he felt sure in advance that she +would sympathize fully with his plans. He had meant to tell her +when the instrument was signed. Why not now?</p> +<p>"Selma," he said, "I've known ever since my wife and daughter +died that I ought to make a will, but I kept putting it off until +it has almost happened that everything I've got went to my next of +kin—folk I'm fond of, too, and mean to remember—but not +fond enough for that. If I give them fifty thousand dollars +apiece—the three of them—I shall rest easy in my grave, +even if they think they ought to have had a bigger slice. It's hard +on a man who has worked all his days, and laid up close to a +million of dollars, not to have a son or a daughter, flesh of my +flesh, to leave it to; a boy or a girl given at the start the +education I didn't get, and who, by the help of my money, might +make me proud, if I could look on, of my name or my blood. It +wasn't to be, and I must grin and bear it, and do the next best +thing. I caught a glimpse of what that thing was soon after I lost +my wife and daughter, and it was the thought of that more than +anything which kept me from going crazy with despair. I'm a plain +man, an uneducated man, but the fortune I've made has been made +honestly, and I'm going to spend it for the good of the American +people—to contribute my mite toward helping the cause of +truth and good citizenship and free and independent ideas which +this nation calls for. I'm going to give my money for benevolent +uses."</p> +<p>"Oh, Mr. Parsons," exclaimed Selma, clasping her hands, "how +splendid! how glorious! How I envy you. It was what I hoped."</p> +<p>"I knew you would be pleased. I've had half a mind once or twice +to let the cat out of the bag, because I guessed it would be the +sort of thing that would take your fancy; but somehow I've kept +mum, for fear I might be taken before I'd been able to make a will. +And then, too, I've been of several minds as to the form of my +gift. I thought it would suit me best of all to found a college, +and I was disappointed when I learned that neighbor Flagg had got +the start of me with his seminary for women across the river. I +wasn't happy over it until one night, just after the doctor had +gone, the thought came to me, 'Why, not give a hospital?' And +that's what it's to be. Five hundred thousand dollars for a free +hospital in the City of Benham, in memory of my wife and daughter. +That'll be useful, won't it? That'll help the people as much as a +college? And, Selma," he added, cutting off the assuring answer +which trembled on her tongue and blazed from her eyes, "I shan't +forget you. After I'm gone you are to have twenty thousand dollars. +That'll enable you, in case you don't marry, to keep a roof over +your head without working too hard."</p> +<p>"Thank you. You are very generous," she said. The announcement +was pleasant to her, but at the moment it seemed of secondary +importance. Her enthusiasm had been aroused by the fact and +character of his public donation, and already her brain was dancing +with the thought of the prospect of a rival vital institution in +connection with which her views and her talents would in all +probability be consulted and allowed to exercise themselves. Her's, +and not Mrs. Taylor's, or any of that censorious and restricting +set. In that hospital, at least, ambition and originality would be +allowed to show what they could do unfettered by envy or paralyzed +by conservatism. "But I can't think of anything now, Mr. Parsons, +except the grand secret you have confided to me. A hospital! It is +an ideal gift. It will show the world what noble uses our rich, +earnest-minded men make of their money, and it will give our +doctors and our people a chance to demonstrate what a free hospital +ought to be. Oh, I congratulate you. I will write to Mr. Lyons at +once."</p> +<p>A note in prompt response stated the hour when the lawyer would +call. On his arrival he was shown immediately to Mr. Parsons's +apartments, with whom he was closeted alone. Selma managed to cross +the hall at the moment he was descending, and he was easily +persuaded to linger and to follow her into the library.</p> +<p>"I was anxious to say a few words to you, Mr. Lyons," she said. +"I know the purpose for which Mr. Parsons sent for you. He has +confided to me concerning his will—told me everything. It is +a noble disposition of his property. A free hospital for Benham is +an ideal selection, and one envies him his opportunity."</p> +<p>"Yes. It is a superb and generous benefaction."</p> +<p>"I lay awake for hours last night thinking about it; thinking +particularly of the special point I am desirous to consult you in +regard to. I don't wish to appear officious, or to say anything I +shouldn't, but knowing from what I heard you state in your speech +the other day that you feel as I do in regard to such matters, I +take the liberty of suggesting that it seems to me of very great +importance that the management of this magnificent gift should be +in proper hands. May I ask you without impropriety if you will +protect Mr. Parsons so that captious or unenthusiastic persons, men +or women, will be unable to control the policy of his hospital? He +would wish it so, I am sure. I thought of mentioning the matter to +him myself, but I was afraid lest it might worry him and spoil the +satisfaction of his generosity or retard his cure. Is what I ask +possible? Do I make myself clear?"</p> +<p>"Perfectly—perfectly. A valuable suggestion," he said. "I +am glad that you have spoken—very glad. Alive as I am to the +importance of protecting ourselves at all points, I might not have +realized this particular danger had you not called it to my +attention. Perhaps only a clever woman would have thought of +it."</p> +<p>"Oh, thank you. I felt that I could not keep silence, and run +the risk of what might happen."</p> +<p>"Precisely. I think I can relieve your mind by telling +you—which under the circumstances is no breach of +professional secrecy, for it is plain that the testator desires you +to know his purpose—that Mr. Parsons has done me the honor to +request me to act as the executor of his will. As such I shall be +in a position to make sure that those to whom the management of his +hospital is intrusted are people in whom you and I would have +confidence."</p> +<p>"Ah! That is very satisfactory. It makes everything as it should +be, and I am immensely relieved."</p> +<p>"Now that you have spoken," he added, meeting her eager gaze +with a propitiating look of reflective wisdom, "I will consider the +advisability of taking the further precaution of advising the +testator to name in his will the persons who shall act as the +trustees of his charity. That would clinch the matter. The +selection of the individuals would necessarily lie with Mr. +Parsons, but it would seem eminently natural and fitting that he +should name you to represent your sex on such a board. I hope it +would be agreeable to you to serve?"</p> +<p>Selma flushed. "It would be a position which I should prize +immensely. Such a possibility had not occurred to me, though I felt +that some definite provision should be made. The responsibility +would be congenial to me and very much in my line."</p> +<p>"Assuredly. If you will permit me to say so, you are just the +woman for the place. We have met only a few times, Mrs. Littleton, +but I am a man who forms my conclusions of people rapidly, and it +is obvious to me that you are thoughtful, energetic, and +liberal-minded—qualities which are especially requisite for +intelligent progress in semi-public work. It is essentially +desirable to enlist the co-operation of well-equipped women to +promote the national weal."</p> +<p>Lyons departed with an agreeable impression that he had been +talking to a woman who combined mental sagacity and enterprise with +considerable fascination of person. This capable companion of Mr. +Parsons was no coquettish or simpering beauty, no mere devotee of +fashionable manners, but a mature, well-poised character endowed +with ripe intellectual and bodily graces. Their interview suggested +that she possessed initiative and discretion in directing the +course of events, and a strong sense of moral responsibility, +attributes which attracted his interest. He was obliged to make two +more visits before the execution of the will, and on each occasion +he had an opportunity to spend a half-hour alone in the society of +Selma. He found her gravely and engagingly sympathetic with his +advocacy of democratic principles; he told her of his ambition to +be elected to Congress—an ambition which he believed would be +realized the following autumn. He confided to her, also, that he +was engaged in his leisure moments in the preparation of a literary +volume to be entitled, "Watchwords of Patriotism," a study of the +requisites of the best citizenship, exemplified by pertinent +extracts from the public utterances of the most distinguished +American public servants.</p> +<p>Selma on her part reciprocated by a reference to the course of +lectures on "Culture and Higher Education," which she had resolved +to deliver before the Benham Institute during the winter. In these +lectures she meant to emphasize the importance of unfettered +individuality, and to comment adversely on the tendencies hostile +to this fundamental principle of progress which she had observed in +New York and from which Benham itself did not appear to her to be +entirely exempt. After delivering these lectures in Benham she +intended to repeat them in various parts of the State, and in some +of the large cities elsewhere, under the auspices of the +Confederated Sisterhood of Women's Clubs of America, the Sorosis +which Mrs. Earle had established on a firm basis, and of which at +present she was second vice-president. As a token of sympathy with +this undertaking, Mr. Lyons offered to procure her a free pass on +the railroads over which she would be obliged to travel. This +pleased Selma greatly, for she had always regarded free passes as a +sign of mysterious and enviable importance.</p> +<p>Two months later Selma, as secretary of the sub-committee of the +Institute selected to oppose before the legislature the bill to +create an appointed school board, had further occasion to confer +with Mr. Lyons. He agreed to be the active counsel, and approved of +the plan that a delegation of women should journey to the capital, +two hours and a half by rail, and add the moral support of their +presence at the hearing before the legislative committee.</p> +<p>The expedition was another gratification to Selma—who had +become possessed of her free pass. She felt that in visiting the +state-house and thus taking an active part in the work of +legislation she was beginning to fulfil the larger destiny for +which she was qualified. Side by side with Mrs. Earle at the head +of a delegation of twenty Benham women she marched augustly into +the committee chamber. The contending factions sat on opposite +sides of the room. Through its middle ran a long table occupied by +the Committee on Education to which the bill had been referred. +Among the dozen or fifteen persons who appeared in support of the +bill Selma perceived Mrs. Hallett Taylor, whom she had not seen +since her return. She was disappointed to observe that Mrs. +Taylor's clothes, though unostentatious, were in the latest +fashion. She had hoped to find her dowdy or unenlightened, and to +be able to look down on her from the heights of her own New York +experience.</p> +<p>The lawyer in charge of the bill presented lucidly and with +skill the merits of his case, calling to the stand four prominent +educators from as many different sections of the State, and several +citizens of well-known character, among them Babcock's former +pastor, Rev. Henry Glynn. He pointed out that the school committee, +as at present constituted, was an unwieldy body of twenty-four +members, that it was regarded as the first round in the ladder of +political preferment, and that the members which composed it were +elected not on the ground of their fitness, but because they were +ambitious for political recognition.</p> +<p>The legislative committee listened politely but coldly to these +statements and to the testimony of the witnesses. It was evident +that they regarded the proposed reform with distrust.</p> +<p>"Do you mean us to understand that the public schools of this +State are not among the best, if not the best, in the world?" asked +one member of the committee, somewhat sternly.</p> +<p>"I recognize the merits of our school system, but I am not blind +to its faults," responded the attorney in charge of the bill. He +was a man who possessed the courage of his convictions, but he was +a lawyer of tact, and he knew that his answer went to the full +limit of what he could safely utter by way of qualification without +hopelessly imperilling his cause.</p> +<p>"Are not our public schools turning out yearly hundreds of boys +and girls who are a growing credit to the soundness of the +institutions of the country?" continued the same inquisitor.</p> +<p>Here was a proposition which opened such a vista of circuitous +and careful speech, were he to attempt to answer it and be true to +conscience without being false to patriotism, that Mr. Hunter was +driven to reply, "I am unable to deny the general accuracy of your +statement."</p> +<p>"Then why seek to harass those who are doing such good work by +unfriendly legislation?"</p> +<p>The member plainly felt that he had disposed of the matter by +this triumphant interrogation, for he listened with scant attention +to a repetition of the grounds on which, relief was sought.</p> +<p>Mr. Lyons's method of reply was a surprise to Selma. She had +looked for a fervid vindication of the principle of the people's +choice, and an eloquent, sarcastic setting forth of the evils of +the exclusive and aristocratic spirit. He began by complimenting +the members of the committee on their ability to deal intelligently +with the important question before them, and then proceeded to +refer to the sincere but mistaken zeal of the advocates of the +bill, whom he described as people animated by conscientious +motives, but unduly distrustful of the capacity of the American +people. His manner suggested a desire to be at peace with all the +world and was agreeably conciliatory, as though he deprecated the +existence of friction. He said that he would not do the members of +the committee the injustice to suppose that they could seriously +favor the passage of a bill which would deprive the intelligent +average voter of one of his dearest privileges; but that he desired +to put himself on record as thinking it a fortunate circumstance, +on the whole, that the well-intentioned promoters of the bill had +brought this matter to the attention of the legislature, and had an +opportunity to express their views. He believed that the hearing +would be productive of benefit to both parties, in that on the one +hand it would tend to make the voters more careful as to whom they +selected for the important duties of the school board, and on the +other would—he, as a lover of democratic institutions, +hoped—serve to convince the friends of the bill that they had +exaggerated the evils of the situation, and that they were engaged +in a false and hopeless undertaking in seeking to confine by hard +and fast lines the spontaneous yearnings of the American people to +control the education of their children. "We say to these critics," +he continued, "some of whom are enrolled under the solemn name of +reformers, that we welcome their zeal and offer co-operation in a +resolute purpose to exercise unswerving vigilance in the selection +of candidates for the high office of guardians of our public +schools. So far as they will join hands with us in keeping +undefiled the traditions of our forefathers, to that extent we are +heartily in accord with them, but when they seek to override those +traditions and to fasten upon this community a method which is +based on a lack of confidence in democratic theories, then +I—and gentlemen, I feel sure that you—are against +them."</p> +<p>Lyons sat down, having given everyone in the room, with the +exception of a few discerning spirits on the other side, the +impression that he had intended to be pre-eminently fair, and that +he had held out the olive branch when he would have been justified +in using the scourge. The inclination to make friends, to smooth +over seamy situations and to avoid repellent language in dealing +with adversaries, except in corporation cases before juries and on +special occasions when defending his political convictions, had +become a growing tendency with him now that he was in training for +public office. Selma did not quite know what to make of it at +first. She had expected that he would crush their opponents beneath +an avalanche of righteous invective. Instead he took his seat with +an expression of countenance which was no less benignant than +dignified. When the hearing was declared closed, a few minutes +later, he looked in her direction, and in the course of his passage +to where she was sitting stopped to exchange affable greetings with +assemblymen and others who came in his way. At his approach Mrs. +Earle uttered congratulations so comprehensive that Selma felt able +to refrain for the moment from committing herself. "I am glad that +you were pleased," he said. "I think I covered the ground, and no +one's feelings have been hurt." As though he divined what was +passing through Selma's mind, he added in an aside intended only +for their ears, "It was not necessary to use all our powder, for I +could tell from the way the committee acted that they were with +us."</p> +<p>"I felt sure they would be," exclaimed Mrs. Earle. "And, as you +say, it is a pleasure that no one's feelings were hurt, and that we +can all part friends."</p> +<p>"Which reminds me," said Lyons, "that I should be glad of an +introduction to Mrs. Taylor as she passes us on her way out. I wish +to assure her personally of my willingness to further her efforts +to improve the quality of the school board."</p> +<p>"That would be nice of you," said Mrs. Earle, "and ought to +please and encourage her, for she will be disappointed, poor thing, +and after all I suppose she means well. There she is now, and I +will keep my eye on her."</p> +<p>"But surely, Mr. Lyons," said Selma, dazed yet interested by +this doctrine of brotherly love, "don't you think our school +committee admirable as it is?"</p> +<p>"A highly efficient body," he answered. "But I should be glad to +have our opponents—mistaken as we believe them to +be—appreciate that we no less than they are zealous to +preserve the present high standard. We must make them recognize +that we are reformers and in sympathy with reform."</p> +<p>"I see," said Selma. "For, of course, we are the real reformers. +Convert them you mean? Be civil to them at least? I understand. +Yes, I suppose there is no use in making enemies of them." She was +thinking aloud. Though ever on her guard to resent false doctrine, +she was so sure of the loyalty of both her companions that she +could allow herself to be interested by this new point of +view—a vast improvement on the New York manner because of its +ethical suggestion. She realized that if Mr. Lyons was certain of +the committee, it was right, and at the same time sensible, not to +hurt anyone's feelings unnecessarily—although she felt a +little suspicious because he had asked to be introduced to Mrs. +Taylor. Indeed, the more she thought of this attitude, on the +assumption that the victory was assured, the more it appealed to +her conscience and intelligence; so much so that when Mrs. Earle +darted forward to detain Mrs. Taylor, Selma was reflecting with +admiration on his magnanimity.</p> +<p>She observed intently the meeting between Mr. Lyons and Mrs. +Taylor. He was deferential, complimentary, and genial, and he made +a suave, impressive offer of his personal services, in response to +which Mrs. Taylor regarded him with smiling incredulity—a +smile which Selma considered impertinent. How dared she treat his +courtly advances with flippant distrust!</p> +<p>"Are you aware, Mr. Lyons," Mrs. Taylor was saying, "that one of +the present members of the school board is a milkman, and another a +carpenter—both of them persons of very ordinary efficiency +from an educational standpoint? Will you co-operate with us, when +their terms expire next year and they seek re-election, to nominate +more suitable candidates in their stead?"</p> +<p>"I shall be very glad when the time comes to investigate +carefully their qualifications, and if they are proved to be +unworthy of the confidence of the people, to use my influence +against them. You may rely on this—rely on my cordial +support, and the support of these ladies," he added, indicating +Mrs. Earle and Selma, with a wave of his hand, "who, if you will +permit me to say so, are no less interested than you in promoting +good government."</p> +<p>"Oh, yes, indeed. We thought we were making an ideal choice in +Miss Luella Bailey," said Mrs. Earle with effusion. "If Mrs. Taylor +had seen more of her, I feel sure she would have admired her, and +then our Institute would not have been dragged into politics."</p> +<p>Mrs. Taylor did not attempt to answer this appeal. Instead she +greeted Selma civilly, and said, "I was sorry to hear that you were +against us, Mrs. Littleton. We were allies once in a good cause, +and in spite of Mr. Lyons's protestations to the contrary, I assure +you that this is another genuine opportunity to improve the +existing order of things. At least," she added, gayly but firmly, +"you must not let Mr. Lyons's predilection to see everything +through rose-colored spectacles prevent you from looking into the +matter on your own account."</p> +<p>"I have done so already," answered Selma, affronted at the +suggestion that she was uninformed, yet restrained from displaying +her annoyance by the sudden inspiration that here was an admirable +opportunity to practise the proselytizing forbearance suggested by +Mr. Lyons. The idea of patronizing Mrs. Taylor from the +vantage-ground of infallibility, tinctured by magnanimous +condescension, appealed to her. "I have made a thorough study of +the question, and I never could look at it as you do, Mrs. Taylor. +I sided with you before because I thought you were +right—because you were in favor of giving everyone a chance +of expression. But now I'm on the other side for the same +reason—because you and your friends are disposed to deprive +people of that very thing, and to regard their aspirations and +their efforts contemptuously, if I may say so. That's the mistake +we think you make—we who, as Mr. Lyons has stated, are no +less eager than you to maintain the present high character of +everything which concerns our school system. But if you only would +see things in a little different light, both Mrs. Earle and I would +be glad to welcome you as an ally and to co-operate with you."</p> +<p>Selma had not expected to make such a lengthy speech, but as she +proceeded she was spurred by the desire to teach Mrs. Taylor her +proper place, and at the same time to proclaim her own allegiance +to the attitude of optimistic forbearance.</p> +<p>"I knew that was the way they felt," said Lyons, ingratiatingly. +"It would be a genuine pleasure to us all to see this unfortunate +difference of opinion between earnest people obviated."</p> +<p>Mrs. Taylor, as Selma was pleased to note, flushed at her +concluding offer, and she answered, drily, "I fear that we are too +far apart in our ideas to talk of co-operation. If our bill is +defeated this year, we shall have to persevere and trust to the +gradual enlightenment of public sentiment. Good afternoon."</p> +<p>Selma left the State-house in an elated frame of mind. She felt +that she had taken a righteous and patriotic stand, and it pleased +her to think that she was taking an active part in defending the +institutions of the country. She chatted eagerly as she walked +through the corridors with Mr. Lyons, who, portly and imposing, +acted as escort to her and Mrs. Earle, and invited them to luncheon +at a hotel restaurant. Excitement had given her more color than +usual, to which her mourning acted as a foil, and she looked her +best. Lyons was proud of being in the company of such a presentable +and spirited appearing woman, and made a point of stopping two or +three members of the legislature and introducing them to her. When +they reached the restaurant he established them at a table where +they could see everybody and be seen, and he ordered scolloped +oysters, chicken-salad, ice-cream, coffee, and some bottles of +sarsaparilla. Both women were in high spirits, and Selma was +agreeably conscious that people were observing them. Before the +repast was over a messenger brought a note to Mr. Lyons, which +announced that the legislative committee had given the petitioners +leave to withdraw their bill, which, in Selma's eyes, justified the +management of the affair, and set the seal of complete success on +an already absorbing and delightful occasion.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3> +<p>Her mourning and the slow convalescence of Mr. Parsons deprived +Selma of convincing evidence in regard to her social reception in +Benham, for those socially prominent were thus barred from inviting +her to their houses, and her own activities were correspondingly +fettered. Indeed, her circumstances supplied her with an obvious +salve for her proper dignity had she been disposed to let suspicion +lie fallow. As it was a number of people had left cards and sent +invitations notwithstanding they could not be accepted, and she +might readily have believed, had she chosen—and as she +professed openly to Mr. Parsons—that everyone had been +uncommonly civil and appreciative.</p> +<p>She found herself, however, in spite of her declared devotion to +her serious duties, noting that the recognition accorded to Mr. +Parsons and herself was not precisely of the character she craved. +The visiting-cards and invitations were from people residing on the +River Drive and in that neighborhood, indeed—but from people +like the Flaggs, for instance, who, having acquired large wealth +and erected lordly dwellings, were eager to dispense good-natured, +lavish hospitality without social experience. Her sensitive ordeal +in New York had quickened her social perceptions, so that whereas +at the time of her departure from Benham as Mrs. Littleton she +regarded her present neighborhood as an integral class, she was now +prompt to separate the sheep from the goats, and to remark that +only the goats seemed conscious of her existence. With the +exception of Mrs. Taylor, who had called when she was out, not one +of a certain set, the outward manifestations of whose stately being +were constantly passing her windows, appeared to take the slightest +interest in her. Strictly speaking, Mrs. Taylor was of this set, +yet apart from it. Hers was the exclusive intellectual and +æsthetic set, this the exclusive fashionable set—both +alike execrable and foreign to the traditions of Benham. As Selma +had discovered the one and declared war against it, so she promised +herself to confound the other when the period of her mourning was +over, and she was free to appear again in society. Once more she +congratulated herself that she had come in time to nip in the bud +this other off-shoot of aristocratic tendencies. As yet either set +was small in number, and she foresaw that it would be an easy task +to unite in a solid phalanx of offensive-defensive influence the +friendly souls whom these people treated as outsiders, and purge +the society atmosphere of the miasma of exclusiveness. In +connection with the means to this end, when the winter slipped away +and left her feeling that she had been ignored, and that she was +eager to assume a commanding position, she began to take more than +passing thought of the attentions of Mr. Lyons. That he was +interested by her there could be no doubt, for he plainly went out +of his way to seek her society, calling at the house from time to +time, and exercising a useful, nattering superintendence over her +lecture course in the other cities of the State, in each of which +he appeared to have friends on the newspaper press who put +agreeable notices in print concerning her performance. She had +returned to Benham believing that her married life was over; that +her heart was in the grave with Wilbur, and that she would never +again part with her independence. The notice which Mr. Lyons had +taken of her from the outset had gratified her, but though she +contrasted his physical energy with Wilbur's lack of vigor, it had +not occurred to her to consider him in the light of a possible +husband. Now that a year had passed since Wilbur's death, she felt +conscious once more, as had happened after her divorce, of the need +of a closer and more individual sympathy than any at her command. +Her relations with Mr. Parsons, to be sure, approximated those of +father and daughter, but his perceptions were much less acute than +before his seizure; he talked little and ceased to take a vital +interest in current affairs. She felt the lack of companionship +and, also, of personal devotion, such personal devotion as was +afforded by the strenuous, ardent allegiance of a man. On the other +hand she was firmly resolved never to allow the current of her own +life to be turned away again by the subordination of her purposes +to those of any other person, and she had believed that this +resolution would keep her indifferent to marriage, in spite of any +sensations of loneliness or craving for masculine idolatry. But as +a widow of a year's standing she was now suddenly interested by the +thought that this solid, ambitious, smooth-talking man might +possibly satisfy her natural preference for a mate without +violating her individuality. She began to ask herself if he were +not truly congenial in a sense which no man had ever been to her +before; also, to ask if their aspirations and aims were not so +nearly identical that he would be certain as her husband to be +proud of everything she did and said, and to allow her to work hand +in hand with him for the furtherance of their common purpose. She +did not put these questions to herself until his conduct suggested +that he was seeking her society as a suitor; but having put them, +she was pleased to find her heart throb with the hope of a +stimulating and dear discovery.</p> +<p>Certain causes contributed to convince her that this hope rested +on a sure foundation—causes associated with her present life +and point of view. She felt confident first of all of the godliness +of Mr. Lyons as indicated not only by his sober, successful life, +and his enthusiastic, benignant patriotism, but by his active, +reverent interest in the affairs of his church—the Methodist +Church—to which Mr. Parsons belonged, and which Selma had +begun to attend since her return to Benham. It had been her +mother's faith, and she had felt a certain filial glow in +approaching it, which had been fanned into pious flame by the +effect of the ministration. The fervent hymns and the opportunities +for bearing testimony at some of the services appealed to her needs +and gave her a sense of oneness with eternal truth, which had +hitherto been lacking from her religious experience. In judging +Wilbur she was disposed to ascribe the defects of his character +largely to the coldness and analyzing sobriety of his creed. She +had accompanied him to church listlessly, and had been bored by the +unemotional appeals to conscience and quiet subjective designations +of duty. She preferred to thrill with the intensity of words which +now roundly rated sin, now passionately called to mind the ransom +of the Saviour, and ever kept prominent the stirring mission of +evangelizing ignorant foreign people. It appeared probable to Selma +that, as the wife of one of the leading church-members, who was the +chairman of the local committee charged with spreading the gospel +abroad, her capacity for doing good would be strengthened, and the +spiritual availability of them both be enhanced.</p> +<p>Then, too, Mr. Lyons's political prospects were flattering. The +thought that a marriage with him would put her in a position to +control the social tendencies of Benham was alluring. As the wife +of Hon. James O. Lyons, Member of Congress, she believed that she +would be able to look down on and confound those who had given her +the cold shoulder. What would Flossy say when she heard it? What +would Pauline? This was a form of distinction which would put her +beyond the reach of conspiracy and exclusiveness; for, as the wife +of a representative, selected by the people to guard their +interests and make their laws, would not her social position be +unassailable? And apart from these considerations, a political +future seemed to her peculiarly attractive. Was not this the real +opportunity for which she had been waiting? Would she be justified +in giving it up? In what better way could her talents be spent than +as the helpmate and intellectual companion of a public man—a +statesman devoted to the protection and development of American +ideas? Her own individuality need not, would not be repressed. She +had seen enough of Mr. Lyons to feel sure that their views on the +great questions of life were thoroughly in harmony. They held the +same religious opinions. Who could foretell the limit of their +joint progress? He was still a young man—strong, dignified, +and patriotic—endowed with qualities which fitted him for +public service. It might well be that a brilliant future was before +him—before them, if she were his wife. If he were to become +prominent in the councils of the nation—Speaker of the +House—Governor—even President, within the bounds of +possibility, what a splendid congenial scope his honors would +afford her own versatility! As day by day she dwelt on these points +of recommendation, Selma became more and more disposed to smile on +the aspirations of Mr. Lyons in regard to herself, and to feel that +her life would develop to the best advantage by a union with him. +Until the words asking her to be his wife were definitely spoken +she could not be positive of his intentions, but his conduct left +little room for doubt, and moreover, was marked by a deferential +soberness of purpose which indicated to her that his views +regarding marriage were on a higher plane than those of any man she +had known. He referred frequently to the home as the foundation on +which American civilization rested, and from which its inspiration +was largely derived, and spoke feelingly of the value to a public +man of a stimulating and dignifying fireside. It became his habit +to join her after morning service and to accompany her home, +carrying her hymn-books, and he sent her from time to time, through +the post, quotations which had especially struck his fancy from the +speeches he was collecting for his "Watchwords of Patriotism."</p> +<p>Another six months passed, and at its close Lyons received the +expected nomination for Congress. The election promised to be close +and exciting. Both parties were confident of victory, and were +preparing vigorously to keep their adherents at fever pitch by +rallies and torch-light processions. Although the result of the +caucus was not doubtful, it was understood between Lyons and Selma +that he would call at the house that evening to let her know that +he had been successful. She was waiting to receive him in the +library. Mr. Parsons had gone to bed. His condition was not +promising. He had recently suffered another slight attack of +paralysis, which seemed to indicate that he was liable at any time +to a fatal seizure.</p> +<p>Lyons entered smilingly. "So far so good," he exclaimed.</p> +<p>"Then you have won?"</p> +<p>"Oh, yes. As I told you, it was a foregone conclusion. Now the +fight begins."</p> +<p>Selma, who had provided a slight refection, handed him a cup of +tea. "I feel sure that you will be chosen," she said. "See if I am +not right. When is the election?"</p> +<p>"In six weeks. Six weeks from to-morrow."</p> +<p>"Then you will go to Washington to live?"</p> +<p>"Not until the fourth of March."</p> +<p>"I envy you. If I were a man I should prefer success in politics +to anything else."</p> +<p>He was silent for a moment. Then he said, "Will you help me to +achieve success? Will you go with me to Washington as my wife?"</p> +<p>His courtship had been formal and elaborate, but his declaration +was signally simple and to the point. Selma noticed that the cup in +his hand trembled. While she kept her eyes lowered, as women are +supposed to do at such moments, she was wondering whether she loved +him as much as she had loved Wilbur? Not so ardently, but more +worthily, she concluded, for he seemed to her to fulfil her maturer +ideal of strong and effective manhood, and to satisfy alike her +self-respect and her physical fancy. A man of his type would not +split hairs, but proceed straight toward the goal of his ambition +without fainting or wavering. Why should she not satisfy her +renewed craving to be yoked to a kindred spirit and companion who +appreciated her true worth?</p> +<p>"I cannot believe," he was saying, "that my words are a surprise +to you. You can scarcely have failed to understand that I admired +you extremely. I have delayed to utter my desire to make you my +wife because I did not dare to cherish too fondly the hope that the +love inspired in me could be reciprocated, and that you would +consent to unite your life to mine and trust your happiness to my +keeping. If I may say so, we are no boy and girl. We understand the +solemn significance of marriage; what it imports and what it +demands. Of late I have ventured to dream that the sympathy in +ideas and identity of purpose which exist between us might be the +trustworthy sign of a spiritual bond which we could not afford to +ignore. I feel that without you the joy and power of my life will +be incomplete. With you at my side I shall aspire to great things. +You are to me the embodiment of what is charming and serviceable in +woman."</p> +<p>Selma looked up. "I like you very much, Mr. Lyons. You, in your +turn, must have realized that, I think. As you say, we are no boy +and girl. You meant by that, too, that we both have been married +before. I have had two husbands, and I did not believe that I could +ever think of marriage again. I don't wish you to suppose that my +last marriage was not happy. Mr. Littleton was an earnest, talented +man, and devoted to me. Yet I cannot deny that in spite of mutual +love our married life was not a success—a success as a +contribution to accomplishment. That nearly broke my heart, and +he—he died from lack of the physical and mental vigor which +would have made so much difference. I am telling you this because I +wish you to realize that if I should consent to comply with your +wishes, it would be because I was convinced that true +accomplishment—the highest accomplishment—would result +from the union of our lives as the result of our riper experience. +If I did not believe, Mr. Lyons, that man and woman as we +are—no longer boy and girl—a more perfect scheme of +happiness, a grander conception of the meaning of life than either +of us had entertained was before us, I would not consider your +offer for one moment."</p> +<p>"Yes, yes, I understand," Lyons exclaimed eagerly. "I share your +belief implicitly. It was what I would have said only—"</p> +<p>Despite his facility as an orator, Lyons left this sentence +incomplete in face of the ticklish difficulty of explaining that he +had refrained from suggesting such a hope to a widow who had lost +her husband only two years before. Yet he hastened to bridge over +this ellipsis by saying, "Without such a faith a union between us +must fall short of its sweetest and grandest opportunities."</p> +<p>"It would be a mockery; there would be no excuse for its +existence," cried Selma impetuously. "I am an idealist, Mr. Lyons," +she said clasping her hands. "I believe devotedly in the mission +and power of love. But I believe that our conception of love +changes as we grow. I welcomed love formerly as an intoxicating, +delirious potion, and as such it was very sweet. You have just told +me of your own feelings toward me, so it is your right to know that +lately I have begun to realize that my association with you has +brought peace into my life—peace and religious +faith—essentials of happiness of which I have not known the +blessings since I was a child. You have dedicated yourself to a +lofty work; you have chosen the noble career of a statesman—a +statesman zealous to promote principles in which we both believe. +And you ask me to share with you the labors and the privileges +which will result from this dedication. If I accept your offer, it +must be because I know that I love you—love you in a sense I +have not loved before—may the dead pardon me! If I accept you +it will be because I wish to perpetuate that faith and peace, and +because I believe that our joint lives will realize worthy +accomplishment." Selma looked into space with her wrapt gaze, +apparently engaged in an intense mental struggle.</p> +<p>"And you will accept? You do feel that you can return my love? I +cannot tell you how greatly I am stirred and stimulated by what you +have said. It makes me feel that I could never be happy without +you." Lyons put into this speech all his solemnity and all his +emotional beneficence of temperament. He was genuinely moved. His +first marriage had been a love match. His wife—a mere +girl—had died within a year; so soon that the memory of her +was a tender but hazy sentiment rather than a formulated impression +of character. By virtue of this memory he had approached marriage +again as one seeking a companion for his fireside, and a comely, +sensible woman to preside over his establishment and promote his +social status, rather than one expecting to be possessed by or to +inspire a dominant passion. Yet he, too, regarded himself +distinctly as an idealist, and he had lent a greedy ear to Selma's +suggestion that mature mutual sympathy and comradeship in +establishing convictions and religious aims were the source of a +nobler type of love than that associated with early matrimony. It +increased his admiration for her, and gave to his courtship, the +touch of idealism which—partly owing to his own modesty as a +man no longer in the flush of youth—it had lacked. He +nervously stroked his beard with his thick hand, and gave himself +up to the spell of this vision of blessedness while he eagerly +watched Selma's face and waited for her answer. To combine moral +purpose and love in a pervasive alliance appealed to him +magnetically as a religious man.</p> +<p>Selma, as she faced Lyons, was conscious necessarily of the +contrast between him and her late husband. But she was attuned to +regard his coarser physical fibre as masculine vigor and a protest +against aristocratic delicacy, and to derive comfort and exaltation +from it.</p> +<p>"Mr. Lyons," she said, "I will tell you frankly that the +circumstances of married life have hitherto hampered the expression +of that which is in me, and confined the scope of my individuality +within narrow and uncongenial limits. I am not complaining; I have +no intention to rake up the past; but it is proper you should know +that I believe myself capable of larger undertakings than have yet +been afforded me, and worthy of ampler recognition than I have yet +received. If I accept you as a husband, it will be because I feel +confident that you will give my life the opportunity to expand, and +that you sympathize with my desire to express myself adequately and +to labor hand in hand, side by side, with you in the important work +of the world."</p> +<p>"That is what I would have you do, Selma. Because you are worthy +of it, and because it is your right."</p> +<p>"On that understanding it seems that we might be very +happy."</p> +<p>"I am certain of it. You fill my soul with gladness," he cried, +and seizing her hand he pressed it to his lips and covered it with +kisses, but she withdrew it, saying, "Not yet—not yet. This +step represents so much to me. It means that if I am mistaken in +you, my whole life will be ruined, for the next years should be my +best. We must not be too hasty. There are many things to be thought +of. I must consider Mr. Parsons. I cannot leave him immediately, if +at all, for he is very dependent on me."</p> +<p>"I had thought of that. While Mr. Parsons lives, I realize that +your first duty must be to him."</p> +<p>The reverential gravity of his tone was in excess of the needs +of the occasion, and Selma understood that he intended to imply +that Mr. Parsons would not long need her care. The same thought was +in her own mind, and it had occurred to her in the course of her +previous cogitations in regard to Lyons, that in the event of his +death it would suit her admirably to continue to occupy the house +as its real mistress. She looked grave for a moment in her turn, +then with a sudden access of coyness she murmured, "I do not +believe that I am mistaken in you."</p> +<p>"Ah," he cried, and would have folded her in his arms, but she +evaded his onset and said with her dramatic intonation, "The +knights of old won their lady-loves by brilliant deeds. If you are +elected a member of Congress, you may come to claim me."</p> +<p>Reflection served only to convince Selma of the wisdom of her +decision to try matrimony once more. She argued, that though a +third marriage might theoretically seem repugnant if stated as a +bald fact, the actual circumstances in her case not merely +exonerated her from a lack of delicacy, but afforded an exhibition +of progress—a gradual evolution in character. She felt +light-hearted and triumphant at the thought of her impending new +importance as the wife of a public man, and she interested herself +exuberantly in the progress of the political campaign. She was +pleased to think that her stipulation had given her lover a new +spur to his ambition, and she was prepared to believe that his +victory would be due to the exhaustive efforts to win which the +cruel possibility of losing her obliged him to make.</p> +<p>This was a campaign era of torch-light processions. The rival +factions expressed their confidence and enthusiasm by parading at +night in a series of battalions armed with torches—some +resplendently flaring, some glittering gayly through colored +glass—and bearing transparencies inscribed with trenchant +sentiments. The houses of their adherents along the route were +illuminated from attic to cellar with rows of candles, and the +atmosphere wore a dusky glow of red and green fire. To Selma all +this was entrancing. She revelled in it as an introduction to the +more conspicuous life which she was about to lead. She showed +herself a zealous and enthusiastic partisan, shrouding the house in +the darkness of Erebus on the occasion when the rival procession +passed the door, and imparting to every window the effect of a +blaze of light on the following evening—the night before +election—when the Democratic party made its final appeal to +the voters. Standing on a balcony in evening dress, in company with +Mrs. Earle and Miss Luella Bailey, whom she had invited to view the +procession from the River Drive, Selma looked down on the parade in +an ecstatic mood. The torches, the music, the fireworks and the +enthusiasm set her pulses astir and brought her heart into her +mouth in melting appreciation of the sanctity of her party cause +and her own enviable destiny as the wife of an American +Congressman. She held in one hand a flag which she waved from time +to time at the conspicuous features of the procession, and she +stationed herself so that the Bengal lights and other fireworks set +off by Mr. Parsons's hired man should throw her figure into +conspicuous relief. The culminating interest of the, occasion for +her was reached when the James O. Lyons Cadets, the special body of +youthful torch-bearers devoted to advertising the merits of her +lover, for whose uniforms and accoutrements he had paid, came in +sight.</p> +<p>They proved to be the most flourishing looking organization in +line. They were preceded by a large, nattily attired drum corps; +their ranks were full, their torches lustrous, and they bore a +number of transparencies setting forth the predominant +qualifications of the candidate for Congress from the second +district, the largest of which presented his portrait superscribed +with the sentiment, "A vote for James O. Lyons is a vote in support +of the liberties of the plain people." On the opposite end of the +canvas was the picture of the king of beasts, with open jaws and +bristling mane, with the motto, "Our Lyons's might will keep our +institutions sacred." In the midst of this glittering escort the +candidate himself rode in an open barouche on his way to the hall +where he was to deliver a final speech. He was bowing to right and +left, and constant cheers marked his progress along the avenue. +Selma leaned forward from the balcony to obtain the earliest sight +of her hero. The rolling applause was a new, intoxicating music in +her ears, and filled her soul with transport. She clapped her hands +vehemently; seized a roman-candle, and amid a blaze of fiery sparks +exploded its colored stars in the direction of the approaching +carriage. Then with the flag slanted across her bosom, she stood +waiting for his recognition. It was made solemnly, but with the +unequivocal demonstration of a cavalier or knight of old, for Lyons +stood up, and doffing his hat toward her, made a conspicuous +salute. A salvo of applause suggested to Selma that the multitude +had understood that he was according to her the homage due a +lady-love, and that their cheers were partly meant for her. She put +her hand to her bosom with the gesture of a queen of melodrama, and +culling one from a bunch of roses Lyons had sent her that afternoon +threw it from the balcony at the carriage. The flower fell almost +into the lap of her lover, who clutched it, pressed it to his lips, +and doffed his hat again. The episode had been visible to many, and +a hoarse murmur of interested approval crowned the performance. The +glance of the crowds on the sidewalk was turned upward, and someone +proposed three cheers for the lady in the balcony. They were given. +Selma bowed to either side in delighted acknowledgment, while the +torches of the cadets waved tumultuously, and there was a fresh +outburst of colored fires.</p> +<p>"I can't keep the secret any longer," she exclaimed, turning to +her two companions. "I'm engaged to be married to Mr. Lyons."</p> +<h3>CHAPTER V.</h3> +<p>Lyons was chosen to Congress by a liberal margin. The +Congressional delegation from his State was almost evenly divided +between the two parties as the result of the election, and the +majorities in every case were small. Consequently the more complete +victory of Lyons was a feather in his cap, and materially enhanced +his political standing.</p> +<p>The sudden death of Mr. Parsons within a week of the election +saved Selma's conscience from the strain of arranging a harmonious +and equitable separation from him. She had felt that the +enlargement of her sphere of life and the opportunity to serve her +country which this marriage offered were paramount to any other +considerations, but she was duly conscious that Mr. Parsons would +miss her sorely, and she was considering the feasibility of +substituting Miss Bailey as his companion in her place, when fate +supplied a different solution. Selma had pledged her friends to +secrecy, so that Mr. Parsons need know nothing until the plans for +his happiness had been perfected, and he died in ignorance of the +interesting matrimonial alliance which had been fostered under his +roof. By the terms of his will Selma was bequeathed the twenty +thousand dollars he had promised her. She and Mr. Lyons, with a +third person, to be selected by them, were appointed trustees of +the Free Hospital with which he had endowed Benham, and Mr. Lyons +was nominated as the sole executor under the will.</p> +<p>Selma's conception that her third betrothal was coincident with +spiritual development, and that she had fought her way through +hampering circumstances to a higher plane of experience, had taken +firm hold of her imagination. She presently confessed to Lyons that +she had not hitherto appreciated the full meaning of the dogma that +marriage was a sacrament. She evinced a disposition to show herself +with him at church gatherings, and to cultivate the acquaintance of +his pastor. She felt that she had finally secured the opportunity +to live the sober, simple life appropriate to those who believed in +maintaining American principles, and in eschewing luxurious and +effete foreign innovations; the sort of life she had always meant +to live, and from which she had been debarred. She had now not only +opportunity, but a responsibility. As the bride of a Congressman, +it behooved her both to pursue virtue for its own sake and for the +sake of example. It was incumbent on her to preserve and promote +democratic conditions in signal opposition to so-called fashionable +society, and at the same time to assert her own proper dignity and +the dignity of her constituents by a suitable outward show.</p> +<p>This last subtlety of reflection convinced Selma that they ought +to occupy the house on the River Drive. Lyons himself expressed +some doubts as to the advisability of this. He admitted that he +could afford the expense, and that it was just such a residence as +he desired, but he suggested that their motives might not be +understood, and he questioned whether it were wise, with the State +so close, to give his political enemies the chance to make unjust +accusations.</p> +<p>"Of course you ought to understand about this matter better than +I," she said; "but I have the feeling, James, that your +constituents will be disappointed if we don't show ourselves +appreciative of the dignity of your position. We both agree that we +should make Benham our home, and that it will be preferable if I +visit Washington a month or two at a time during the session rather +than for us to set up housekeeping there, and I can't help +believing that the people will be better pleased if you, as their +representative, make that home all which a beautiful home should +be. They will be proud of it, and if they are, you needn't mind +what a few fault-finders say. I have been thinking it over, and it +seems to me that we shall make a mistake to let this house go. It +just suits us. I feel sure that in their hearts the American people +like to have their public men live comfortably. This house is small +compared to many in New York, and I flatter myself that we shall be +able to satisfy everyone that we are rootedly opposed to unseemly +extravagance of living."</p> +<p>Lyons yielded readily to this argument. He had been accustomed +to simple surroundings, but travel and the growth of Benham itself +had demonstrated to him that the ways of the nation in respect to +material possessions and comforts had undergone a marked change +since his youth. He had been brought in contact with this new +development in his capacity of adviser to the magnates of Benham, +and he had fallen under the spell of improved creature comforts. +Still, though he cast sheep's eyes at these flesh pots, he had felt +chary, both as a worker for righteousness and an ardent champion of +popular principles, of countenancing them openly. Yet his original +impulse toward marriage had been a desire to secure an +establishment, and now that this result was at hand he found +himself ambitious to put his household on a braver footing, +provided this would do injury neither to his moral scruples nor to +his political sincerity. The problem was but another phase of that +presented to him by his evolution from a jury lawyer, whose hand +and voice were against corporations, to the status of a richly paid +chamber adviser to railroads and banking houses. He was exactly in +the frame of mind to grasp at the euphemism offered by Selma. He +was not one to be convinced without a reason, but his mind eagerly +welcomed a suggestion which justified on a moral ground the +proceeding to which they were both inclined. The idea that the +people would prefer to see him as their representative living in a +style consistent with the changes in manners and customs introduced +by national prosperity, affording thereby an example of correct and +elevating stewardship of reasonable wealth, by way of contrast to +vapid society doings, came to him as an illumination which +dissipated his doubts.</p> +<p>The wedding took place about three months after the death of Mr. +Parsons. In her renovated outlook regarding matrimony, Selma +included formal preparations for and some pomp of circumstances at +the ceremony. It suited her pious mood that she was not required +again to be married off-hand, and that she could plight her troth +in a decorous fashion, suitably attired and amid conventional +surroundings. Her dress was a subject of considerable +contemplation. She guided her lover's generosity until it centred +on a diamond spray for her hair and two rings set with handsome +precious stones. She did not discourage Miss Luella Bailey from +heralding the approaching nuptials in the press. She became Mrs. +Lyons in a conspicuous and solemn fashion before the gaze of +everybody in Benham whom there was any excuse for asking to the +church. After a collation at the Parsons house, the happy pair +started on their honeymoon in a special car put at their service by +one of the railroads for which the bridegroom was counsel. This +feature delighted Selma. Indeed, everything, from the complimentary +embrace of her husband's pastor to the details of her dress and +wedding presents, described with elaborate good will in the evening +newspapers, appeared to her gratifying and appropriate.</p> +<p>They were absent six weeks, during which the Parsons house was +to be redecorated and embellished within and without according to +instructions given by Selma before her departure. Their trip +extended to California by way of the Yosemite. Selma had never seen +the wonders of the far western scenery, and this appropriate +background for their sentiment also afforded Lyons the opportunity +to inspect certain railroad lines in which he was financially +interested. The atmosphere of the gorgeous snow-clad peaks and +impressive chasms served to heighten still further the intensity of +Selma's frame of mind. She managed adroitly on several occasions to +let people know who they were, and it pleased her to observe the +conductor indicating to passengers in the common cars that they +were Congressman Lyons and his wife on their honeymoon. She was +looking forward to Washington, and as she stood in the presence of +the inspiring beauties of nature she was prone to draw herself up +in rehearsal of the dignity which she expected to wear. What were +these mountains and canyons but physical counterparts of the human +soul? What but correlative representatives of grand ideas, of noble +lives devoted to the cause of human liberty? She felt that she was +very happy, and she bore testimony to this by walking arm in arm +with her husband, leaning against his firm, stalwart shoulder. It +seemed to her desirable that the public should know that they were +a happy couple and defenders of the purity of the home. On their +way back the train was delayed on Washington's birthday for several +hours by a wash-out, and presently a deputation made up of +passengers and townspeople waited on Lyons and invited him to +deliver an open-air address. He and Selma, when the committee +arrived, were just about to explore the neighborhood, and Lyons, +though ordinarily he would have been glad of such an opportunity, +looked at his wife with an expression which suggested that he would +prefer a walk with her. The eyes of the committee followed his, +appreciating that he had thrown the responsibility of a decision on +his bride. Selma was equal to the occasion. "Of course he will +address you," she exclaimed. "What more suitable place could there +be for offering homage to the father of our country than this +majestic prairie?" She added, proudly, "And I am glad you should +have the opportunity to hear my husband speak."</p> +<p>Some letters requiring attention were forwarded to Lyons at one +of the cities where they stopped. As they lay on his dressing-table +Selma caught sight of the return address, Williams & Van Horne, +printed on the uppermost envelope. The reminder aroused a host of +associations. Flossy had not been much in her thoughts lately, yet +she had not failed to plume herself occasionally with the +reflection that she could afford now to snap her fingers at her. +She had wondered more than once what Flossy would think when she +heard that she was the wife of a Representative.</p> +<p>"Do you know these people personally?" she inquired, holding up +the envelope.</p> +<p>"Yes. They are my—er—financial representatives in +New York. I have considerable dealings with them."</p> +<p>Selma had not up to this time concerned herself as to the +details of her husband's affairs. He had made clear to her that his +income from his profession was large, and she knew that he was +interested in a variety of enterprises. That he should have +connections with a firm of New York brokers was one more proof to +her of his common sense and capacity to take advantage of +opportunities.</p> +<p>"Mr. Littleton used to buy stocks through Williams and Van +Horne—only a few. He was not very clever at it, and failed to +make the most of the chances given him to succeed in that way. We +knew the Williamses at one time very well. They lived in the same +block with us for several years after we were married."</p> +<p>"Williams is a capable, driving sort of fellow. Bold, but on the +whole sagacious, I think," answered Lyons, with demure urbanity. It +was rather a shock to him that his wife should learn that he had +dealings in the stock market. He feared lest it might seem to her +inconsistent with his other propensities—his religious +convictions and his abhorrence of corporate rapacity. He preferred +to keep such transactions private for fear they should be +misunderstood. At heart he did not altogether approve of them +himself. They were a part of his evolution, and had developed by +degrees until they had become now so interwoven with his whole +financial outlook that he could not escape from them at the moment +if he would. Indeed some of them were giving him anxiety. He had +supposed that the letter in question contained a request for a +remittance to cover depreciation in his account. Instead he had +read with some annoyance a confidential request from Williams that +he would work for a certain bill which, in his capacity as a foe of +monopoly, he had hoped to be able to oppose. It offended his +conscience to think that he might be obliged secretly to befriend a +measure against which his vote must be cast. As has been intimated, +he would have preferred that his business affairs should remain +concealed from his wife. Yet her remarks were unexpectedly and +agreeably reassuring. They served to furnish a fresh indication on +her part of intelligent sympathy with the perplexities which beset +the path of an ambitious public man. They suggested a subtle +appreciation of the reasonableness of his behavior, notwithstanding +its apparent failure to tally with his outward professions.</p> +<p>Selma's reply interrupted this rhapsody.</p> +<p>"I ought to tell you, I suppose, that I quarrelled with Mrs. +Williams before I left New York. Or, rather, she quarrelled with +me. She insulted me in my own house, and I was obliged to order her +to leave it."</p> +<p>"Quarrelled? That is a pity. An open break? Open breaks in +friendship are always unfortunate." Lyons looked grieved, and +fingered his beard meditatively.</p> +<p>"I appreciate," said Selma, frankly, "that our falling out will +be an inconvenience in case we should meet in Washington or +elsewhere, since you and Mr. Williams have business interests in +common. Of course, James, I wish to help you in every way I can. I +might as well tell you about it. I think she was jealous of me and +fancied I was trying to cut her out socially. At all events, she +insinuated that I was not a lady, because I would not lower my +standards to hers, and adopt the frivolous habits of her little +set. But I have not forgotten, James, your suggestion that people +in public life can accomplish more if they avoid showing resentment +and strive for harmony. I shall be ready to forget the past if Mrs. +Williams will, for my position as your wife puts me beyond the +reach of her criticism. She's a lively little thing in her way, and +her husband seems to understand about investments and how to get +ahead."</p> +<p>They went direct to Washington without stopping at Benham. It +was understood that the new session of Congress was to be very +short, and they were glad of an opportunity to present themselves +in an official capacity at the capital as a conclusion to their +honeymoon, before settling down at home. Selma found a letter from +Miss Bailey, containing the news that Pauline Littleton had +accepted the presidency of Wetmore College, the buildings of which +were now practically completed. Selma gasped as she read this. She +had long ago decided that her sister-in-law's studies were +unpractical, and that Pauline was doomed to teach small classes all +her days, a task for which she was doubtless well fitted. She +resented the selection, for, in her opinion, Pauline lacked the +imaginative talent of Wilbur, and yet shared his subjective, +unenthusiastic ways. More than once it had occurred to her that the +presidency of Wetmore was the place of all others for which she +herself was fitted. Indeed, until Lyons had offered himself she had +cherished in her inner consciousness the hope that the course of +events might demonstrate that she was the proper person to direct +the energies of this new medium for the higher education of women. +It irritated her to think that an institution founded by Benham +philanthropy, and which would be a vital influence in the +development of Benham womanhood, should be under the control of one +who was hostile to American theories and methods. Selma felt so +strongly on the subject that she thought of airing her objections +in a letter to Mr. Flagg, the donor, but she concluded to suspend +her strictures until her return to Benham. She sent, however, to +Miss Bailey, who was now regularly attached to one of the Benham +newspapers, notes for an article which should deplore the choice by +the trustees of one who was unfamiliar and presumably out of +sympathy with Benham thought and impulse.</p> +<p>Selma's emotions on her arrival in Washington were very +different from those which she had experienced in New York as the +bride of Littleton. Then she had been unprepared for, dazed, and +offended by what she saw. Now, though she mentally assumed that the +capital was the parade ground of American ideas and principles, she +felt not merely no surprise at the august appearance of the wide +avenues, but she was eagerly on the lookout, as they drove from the +station to the hotel, for signs of social development. The aphorism +which she had supplied to her husband, that the American people +prefer to have their representatives live comfortably, dwelt in her +thoughts and was a solace to her. Despite her New York experience, +she had the impression that the doors of every house in Washington +would fly open at her approach as the wife of a Congressman. She +did not formulate her anticipations as to her reception, but she +entertained a general expectation that their presence would be +acknowledged as public officials in a notable way. She dressed +herself on the morning after their arrival at the hotel with some +showiness, so as to be prepared for flattering emergencies. She had +said little to her husband on the subject, for she had already +discovered that, though he was ambitious that they should appear +well, he was disposed to leave the management of social concerns to +her. His information had been limited to bidding her come prepared +for the reception to be given at the White House at the +reassembling of Congress. Selma had brought her wedding-dress for +this, and was looking forward to it as a gala occasion.</p> +<p>The hotel was very crowded, and Selma became aware that many of +the guests were the wives and daughters of other Congressmen, who +seemed to be in the same predicament as herself—that is, +without anyone to speak to and waiting in their best clothes for +something to happen. Lyons knew a few of them, and was making +acquaintances in the corridors, with some of whom he exchanged an +introduction of wives. As she successively met these other women, +Selma perceived that no one of them was better dressed than +herself, and she reflected with pleasure that they would doubtless +be available allies in her crusade against frivolity and +exclusiveness.</p> +<p>Presently she set out with her husband to survey the sights of +the city. Naturally their first visit was to the Capitol, in the +presence of which Selma clutched his arm in the pride of her +patriotism and of her pleasure that he was to be one of the makers +of history within its splendid precincts. The sight of the stately +houses of Congress, superbly dominated by their imposing dome, made +them both walk proudly, lost, save for occasional vivid phrases of +admiration, in the contemplation of their own possible future. What +greater earthly prize for man than political distinction among a +people capable of monuments like this? What grander arena for a +woman eager to demonstrate truth and promote righteousness? There +was, of course, too much to see for any one visit. They went up to +the gallery of the House of Representatives and looked down on the +theatre of Lyons's impending activities. He was to take his seat on +the day after the morrow as one of the minority party, but a +strong, vigorous minority. Selma pictured him standing in the aisle +and uttering ringing words of denunciation against corporate +monopolies and the money power.</p> +<p>"I shall come up here and listen to you often. I shall be able +to tell if you speak loud enough—so that the public can hear +you," she said, glancing at the line of galleries which she saw in +her mind's eye crowded with spectators. "You must make a long +speech very soon."</p> +<p>"That is very unlikely indeed. They tell me a new member rarely +gets a chance to be heard," answered Lyons.</p> +<p>"But they will hear you. You have something to say."</p> +<p>Lyons squeezed her hand. Her words nourished the same hope in +his own breast. "I shall take advantage of every opportunity to +obtain recognition, and to give utterance to my opinions."</p> +<p>"Oh yes, I shall expect you to speak. I am counting on +that."</p> +<p>On their way down they scanned with interest the statues and +portraits of distinguished statesmen and heroes, and the +representations of famous episodes in American history with which +the walls of the landings and the rotunda are lined.</p> +<p>"Some day you will be here," said Selma. "I wonder who will +paint you or make your bust. I have often thought," she added, +wistfully, "that, if I had given my mind to it, I could have +modelled well in clay. Some day I'll try. It would be interesting, +wouldn't it, to have you here in marble with the inscription +underneath, 'Bust of the Honorable James O. Lyons, sculptured by +his wife?'"</p> +<p>Lyons laughed, but he was pleased. "You are making rapid +strides, my dear. I am sure of one thing—if my bust or +portrait ever is here, I shall owe my success largely to your +devotion and good sense. I felt certain of it before, but our +honeymoon has proved to me that we were meant for one another."</p> +<p>"Yes, I think we were. And I like to hear you say I have good +sense. That is what I pride myself on as a wife."</p> +<p>On their return to the hotel Selma was annoyed to find that no +one but a member of her husband's Congressional delegation had +called. She had hoped to find that their presence in Washington was +known and appreciated. It seemed to her, moreover, that they were +not treated at the hotel with the deference she had supposed would +be accorded to them. To be sure, equality was of the essence of +American doctrine; nevertheless she had anticipated that the +official representatives of the people would be made much of, and +distinguished from the rest of the world, if not by direct +attention, by being pointed out and looked at admiringly. Still, as +Lyons showed no signs of disappointment, she forbore to express her +own perplexity, which was temporarily relieved by an invitation +from him to drive. The atmosphere was mild enough for an open +carriage, and Selma's appetite for processional effect derived some +crumbs of comfort from the process of showing herself in a barouche +by the side of her husband. They proceeded in an opposite direction +from the Capitol, and after surveying the outside of the White +House, drove along the avenues and circles occupied by private +residences. Selma noticed that these houses, though attractive, +were less magnificent and conspicuous than many of those in New +York—more like her own in Benham; and she pictured as their +occupants the families of the public men of the country—a +society of their wives and daughters living worthily, +energetically, and with becoming stateliness, yet at the same time +rebuking by their example frivolity and rampant luxury. She +observed with satisfaction the passage of a number of private +carriages, and that their occupants were stylishly clad. She +reflected that, as, the wife of a Congressman, her place was among +them, and she was glad that they recognized the claims of social +development so far as to dress well and live in comfort. Before +starting she had herself fastened a bunch of red roses at her waist +as a contribution to her picturesqueness as a public woman.</p> +<p>While she was thus absorbed in speculation, not altogether free +from worrying suspicions, in spite of her mental vision as to the +occupants of these private residences, she uttered an ejaculation +of surprise as a jaunty victoria passed by them, and she turned her +head in an eager attempt to ascertain if her surprise and annoyance +were well-founded. The other vehicle was moving rapidly, but a +similar curiosity impelled one of its occupants to look hack also, +and the eyes of the two women met.</p> +<p>"It's she; I thought it was."</p> +<p>"Who, my dear?" said Lyons.</p> +<p>"Flossy Williams—Mrs. Gregory Williams. I wonder," she +added, in a severe tone, "what she is doing here, and how she +happens to be associating with these people. That was a private +carriage."</p> +<p>"Williams has a number of friends in Washington, I imagine. I +thought it likely that he would be here. That was another proof of +your good sense, Selma—deciding to let bygones be bygones and +to ignore your disagreement with his wife."</p> +<p>"Yes, I know. I shall treat her civilly. But my heart will be +broken, James, if I find that Washington is like New York."</p> +<p>"In what respect?"</p> +<p>"If I find that the people in these houses lead exclusive, +un-American, godless lives. It would tempt me almost to despair of +our country," she exclaimed, with tragic emphasis.</p> +<p>"I don't understand about social matters, Selma. I must leave +those to you. But," he added, showing that he shrewdly realized the +cause of her anguish better than she did herself, "as soon as we +get better acquainted, I'm sure you will find that we shall get +ahead, and that you will be able to hold your own with anybody, +however exclusive."</p> +<p>Selma colored at the unflattering simplicity of his deduction. +"I don't desire to hold my own with people of that sort. I despise +them."</p> +<p>"I know. Hold your own, I mean, among people of the right sort +by force of sound ideas and principles. The men and women of +to-day," he continued, with melodious asseveration, "are the +grand-children of those who built the splendid halls we visited +this morning as a monument to our nation's love of truth and +righteousness. A few frivolous, worldly minded spirits are not the +people of the United States to whom we look for our encouragement +and support."</p> +<p>"Assuredly," answered Selma, with eagerness. "It is difficult, +though, not to get discouraged at times by the behavior of those +who ought to aid instead of hinder our progress as a nation."</p> +<p>For a moment she was silent in wrapt meditation, then she +asked:</p> +<p>"Didn't you expect that more notice would be taken of our +arrival?"</p> +<p>"In what way?"</p> +<p>"In some way befitting a member of Congress."</p> +<p>Lyons laughed. "My dear Selma, I am one new Congressman among +several hundred. What did you expect? That the President and his +wife would come and take us to drive?"</p> +<p>"Of course not." She paused a moment, then she said: "I suppose +that, as you are not on the side of the administration, we cannot +expect much notice to be taken of us until you speak in the House. +I will try not to be too ambitious for you, James; but it would be +easier to be patient," she concluded, with her far-away look, "if I +were not beginning to fear that this city also may be contaminated +just as New York is."</p> +<h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3> +<p>The incidents of the next two days previous to her attendance at +the evening reception at the White House restored Selma's +equanimity. She had the satisfaction of being present at the +opening ceremonies of the House of Representatives, and of +beholding her husband take the oath of office. She was proud of +Lyons as she looked down on him from the gallery standing in the +aisle by his allotted seat. He was holding an improvised reception, +for a number of his colleagues showed themselves desirous to make +his acquaintance. She noticed that he appeared already on familiar +terms with some of his fellow-members; that he drew men or was +drawn aside for whispered confidences; that he joked knowingly with +others; and that always as he chatted his large, round, smooth +face, relieved by its chin beard, wore an aspect of bland dignity +and shrewd reserve wisdom. It pleased her to be assisting at the +dedication of a fresh page of national history—a page yet +unwritten, but on which she hoped that her own name would be +inscribed sooner or later by those who should seek to trace the +complete causes of her husband's usefulness and genius.</p> +<p>Another source of satisfaction was the visit paid them the day +before at the hotel by one of the United States Senators from their +own State—Mr. Calkins. The two political parties in their own +State were so evenly divided that one of the Senators in office +happened to be a Republican and his colleague a Democrat. Mr. +Calkins belonged to her husband's party, yet he suggested that they +might enjoy a private audience with the President, with whom, +notwithstanding political differences of opinion, Mr. Calkins was +on friendly terms. This was the sort of thing which Selma aspired +to, and the experience did much to lighten her heart. She enjoyed +the distinction of seeing guarded doors open at their approach, and +of finding herself shaking hands with the chief magistrate of the +nation at a special interview. The President was very affable, and +was manifestly aware of Lyons's triumph at the expense of his own +party, and of his consequent political importance. He treated the +matter banteringly, and Selma was pleased at her ability to enter +into the spirit of his persiflage and to reciprocate. In her +opinion solemnity would have been more consistent with his position +as the official representative of the people of the United States, +and his jocose manifestations at a time when serious conversation +seemed to be in order was a disappointment, and tended to confirm +her previous distrust of him as the leader of the opposite party. +She had hoped he would broach some vital topics of political +interest, and that she would have the opportunity to give +expression to her own views in regard to public questions. +Nevertheless, as the President saw fit to be humorous, she was glad +that she understood how to meet and answer his bantering sallies. +She felt sure that Lyons, were he ever to occupy this dignified +office, would refrain from ill-timed levity, but she bore in mind +also the policy of conciliation which she had learned from her +husband, and concealed her true impressions. She noticed that both +Lyons and Mr. Calkins forebore to show dissatisfaction, and she +reflected that, though the President's tone was light, there was +nothing else in his appearance or bearing to convict him of +sympathy with lack of enthusiasm and with cynicism. It would have +destroyed all the enjoyment of her interview had she been forced to +conclude that a man who did not take himself and his duties +seriously could be elected President of the United States. She was +not willing to believe this; but her suspicions were so far aroused +that she congratulated herself that her political opponents were +responsible for his election. Nevertheless she was delighted by the +distinction of the private audience, and by the episode at its +close, which gave her opportunity to show her individuality. Said +the President gallantly as she was taking leave:</p> +<p>"Will you permit me to congratulate Congressman Lyons on his +good fortune in the affairs of the heart as well as in +politics?"</p> +<p>"If you say things like that, Mr. President," interjected Lyons, +"you will turn her head; she will become a Republican, and then +where should I be?"</p> +<p>While she perceived that the President was still inclined to +levity, the compliment pleased Selma. Yet, though she appreciated +that her husband was merely humoring him by his reply, she did not +like the suggestion that any flattery could affect her principles. +She shook her head coquettishly and said:</p> +<p>"James, I'm sure the President thinks too well of American women +to believe that any admiration, however gratifying, would make me +lukewarm in devotion to my party."</p> +<p>This speech appeared to her apposite and called for, and she +departed in high spirits, which were illuminated by the thought +that the administration was not wholly to be trusted.</p> +<p>On the following evening Selma went to the reception at the +White House. The process of arrival was trying to her patience, for +they were obliged to await their turn in the long file of +carriages. She could not but approve of the democratic character of +the entertainment, which anyone who desired to behold and shake +hands with the Chief Magistrate was free to attend. Still, it again +crossed her mind that, as an official's wife, she ought to have +been given precedence. Their turn to alight came at last, and they +took their places in the procession of visitors on its way through +the East room to the spot where the President and his wife, +assisted by some of the ladies of the Cabinet, were submitting to +the ordeal of receiving the nation. There was a veritable crush, in +which there was every variety of evening toilette, a display +essentially in keeping with the doctrines which Selma felt that she +stood for. She took occasion to rejoice in Lyons's ear at the +realization of her anticipations in this respect. At the same time +she was agreeably stimulated by the belief that her wedding dress +was sumptuous and stylish, and her appearance striking. Her hair +had been dressed as elaborately as possible; she wore all her +jewelry; and she carried a bouquet of costly roses. Her wish was to +regard the function as the height of social demonstration, and she +had spared no pains to make herself effective. She had esteemed it +her duty to do so both as a Congressman's wife and as a champion of +moral and democratic ideas.</p> +<p>The crowd was oppressive, and three times the train of her dress +was stepped on to her discomfiture. Amid the sea of faces she +recognized a few of the people she had seen at the hotel. It struck +her that no one of the women was dressed so elegantly as herself, +an observation which cheered her and yet was not without its thorn. +But the music, the lights, and the variegated movement of the scene +kept her senses absorbed and interfered with introspection, until +at last they were close to the receiving party. Selma fixed her +eyes on the President, expecting recognition. Like her husband, the +President possessed a gift of faces and the faculty of rallying all +his energies to the important task of remembering who people were. +An usher asked and announced the names, but the Chief Magistrate's +perceptions were kept hard at work. His "How do you do, Congressman +Lyons? I am very glad to see you here, Mrs. Lyons," were uttered +with a smiling spontaneity, which to his own soul meant a momentary +agreeable relaxation of the nerves of memory, resembling the easy +flourish with which a gymnast engaged in lifting heavy weights +encounters a wooden dumb-bell. But though his eyes and voice were +flattering, Selma had barely completed the little bob of a courtesy +which accompanied her act of shaking hands when she discovered that +the machinery of the national custom was not to halt on their +account, and that she must proceed without being able to renew the +half flirtatious interview of the previous day. She proceeded to +courtesy to the President's wife and to the row of wives of members +of the Cabinet who were assisting. Before she could adequately +observe them, she found herself beyond and a part once more of a +heterogeneous crush, the current of which she aimlessly followed on +her husband's arm. She was suspicious of the device of courtesying. +Why had not the President's wife and the Cabinet ladies shaken +hands with her and given her an opportunity to make their +acquaintance? Could it be that the administration was aping foreign +manners and adopting effete and aristocratic usages?</p> +<p>"What do we do now?" she asked of Lyons as they drifted +along.</p> +<p>"I'd like to find Horace Elton and introduce him to you. I +caught a glimpse of him further on just before we reached the +President. Horace knows all the ropes and can tell us who everybody +is."</p> +<p>Selma had heard her husband refer to Horace Elton on several +occasions in terms of respectful and somewhat mysterious +consideration. She had gathered in a general way that he was a far +reaching and formidable power in matters political and financial, +besides being the president and active organizer of the energetic +corporation known as the Consumers' Gas Light Company of their own +state. As they proceeded she kept her eyes on the alert for a man +described by Lyons as short, heavily built, and neat looking, with +small side whiskers and a close-mouthed expression. When they were +not far from the door of exit from the East room, some one on the +edge of the procession accosted her husband, who drew her after him +in that direction. Selma found herself in a sort of eddy occupied +by half a dozen people engaged in observing the passing show, and +in the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Gregory Williams. It was Mr. +Williams who had diverted them. He now renewed his acquaintance +with her, exclaiming—"My wife insisted that she had met you +driving with some one she believed to be your husband. I had heard +that Congressman Lyons was on his bridal tour, and now everything +is clear. Flossy, you were right as usual, and it seems that our +hearty congratulations are in order to two old friends."</p> +<p>Williams spoke with his customary contagious confidence. Selma +noted that he was stouter and that his hair was becomingly streaked +with gray. Had not her attention been on the lookout for his wife +she might have noticed that his eye wore a restless, strained +expression despite his august banker's manner and showy gallantry. +She did observe that the moment he had made way for Flossy he +turned to Lyons and began to talk to him in a subdued tone under +the guise of watching the procession.</p> +<p>The two women confronted each other with spontaneous +forgetfulness of the past. There was a shade of haughtiness in +Selma's greeting. She was prepared to respect her husband's policy +and to ignore the circumstances under which they had parted, but +she wished Flossy to understand that this was an act of +condescension on her part as a Congressman's wife, whose important +social status was beyond question. She was so thoroughly imbued +with this sense of her indisputable superiority that she readily +mistook Flossy's affability for fawning; whereas that young woman's +ingenuous friendliness was the result of a warning sentence from +Gregory when Selma and her husband were seen +approaching—"Keep a check on your tongue, Floss. This +statesman with a beard like a goat is likely to have a political +future."</p> +<p>"I felt sure it was you the other day," Flossy said with smiling +sprightliness, "but I had not heard of your marriage to Mr. +Lyons."</p> +<p>"We were married at Benham six weeks ago. We are to live in +Benham. We have bought the house there which belonged to Mr. +Parsons. We have just returned from visiting the superb scenery of +the Yosemite and the Rocky Mountains, and it made me prouder than +ever of my country. If Congressman Lyons had not been obliged to be +present at the opening of Congress, we should have spent our +honeymoon in Europe."</p> +<p>"Gregory and I passed last summer abroad yachting. We crossed on +a steamer and had our yacht meet us there. Isn't it a jam +to-night?"</p> +<p>"There seem to be a great many people. I suppose you came on +from New York on purpose for this reception?"</p> +<p>"Mercy, no. We are staying with friends, and we hadn't intended +to come to-night. But we had been dining out and were dressed, so +we thought we'd drop in and show our patriotism. It's destruction +to clothes, and I'm glad I haven't worn my best."</p> +<p>Selma perceived Flossy's eye making a note of her own elaborate +costume, and the disagreeable suspicion that she was overdressed +reasserted itself. She had already observed that Mrs. Williams's +toilette, though stylish, was comparatively simple. How could one +be overdressed on such an occasion? What more suitable time for an +American woman to wear her choicest apparel than when paying her +respects to the President of the United States? She noticed that +Flossy seemed unduly at her ease as though the importance of the +ceremony was lost on her, and that they group of people with whom +Flossy had been talking and who stood a little apart were obviously +indulging in quiet mirth at the expense of some of those in the +procession.</p> +<p>"Are the friends with whom you are staying connected with the +Government?" Selma asked airily.</p> +<p>"Official people? Goodness, no. But I can point out to you who +everybody is, for we have been in Washington frequently during the +last three sessions. Gregory has to run over here on business every +now and then, and I almost always come with him. To-night is the +opportunity to see the queer people in all their glory—the +woolly curiosities, as Gregory calls them. And a sprinkling of the +real celebrities too," she added.</p> +<p>Selma's inquiry had been put with a view to satisfy herself that +Flossy's friends were mere civilians. But she was glad of an +opportunity to be enlightened as to the names of her +fellow-officials, though she resented Flossy's flippant tone +regarding the character of the entertainment. While she listened to +the breezy, running commentary by which Flossy proceeded to +identify for her benefit the conspicuous figures in the procession +she nursed her offended sensibilities.</p> +<p>"I should suppose," she said, taking advantage of a pause, "that +on such an occasion as this everybody worth knowing would be +present."</p> +<p>Flossy gave Selma one of her quick glances. She had not +forgotten the past, nor her discovery of the late Mrs. Littleton's +real grievance against her and the world. Nor did she consider that +her husband's caveat debarred her from the amusement of worrying +the wife of the Hon. James O. Lyons, provided it could be done by +means of the truth ingenuously uttered. She said with a +confidential smile—</p> +<p>"The important and the interesting political people have other +opportunities to meet one another—at dinner parties and less +promiscuous entertainments than this, and the Washington people +have other opportunities to meet them. Of course the President is a +dear, and everyone makes a point of attending a public reception +once in a while, but this sort of thing isn't exactly an edifying +society event. For instance, notice the woman in the pomegranate +velvet with two diamond sprays in her hair. That's the wife of +Senator Colman—his child wife, so they call her. She came to +Washington six years ago as the wife of a member of the House from +one of the wild and woolly States, and was notorious then in the +hotel corridors on account of her ringletty raven hair and the +profusion of rings she wore. She used to make eyes at the hotel +guests and romp with her husband's friends in the hotel parlors, +which was the theatre of her social activities. Her husband died, +and a year ago she married old Senator Colman, old enough to be her +grandfather, and one of the very rich and influential men in the +Senate. Now she has developed social ambition and is anxious to +entertain. They have hired a large house for the winter and are +building a larger one. As Mrs. Polsen—that was her first +husband's name—she was invited nowhere except to wholesale +official functions like this. The wife of a United States Senator +with plenty of money can generally attract a following; she is +somebody. And it happens that people are amused by Mrs. Cohnan's +eccentricities. She still overdresses, and makes eyes, and she +nudges those who sit next her at table, but she is good-natured, +says whatever comes into her head, and has a strong sense of humor. +So she is getting on."</p> +<p>"Getting on among society people?" said Selma drily.</p> +<p>Flossy's eyes twinkled. "Society people is the generic name used +for them in the newspapers. I mean that she is making friends among +the women who live in the quarter where I passed you the other +day."</p> +<p>Selma frowned. "It is not necessary, I imagine, to make friends +of that class in order to have influence in Washington,—the +best kind of influence. I can readily believe that people of that +sort would interest most of our public women very little."</p> +<p>"Very likely. I don't think you quite understand me, Mrs. Lyons, +or we are talking at cross purposes. What I was trying to make +clear is that political and social prominence in Washington are by +no means synonimous. Of course everyone connected with the +government who desires to frequent Washington society and is +socially available is received with open arms; but, if people are +not socially available, it by no means follows that they are able +to command social recognition merely because they hold political +office,—except perhaps in the case of wives of the Cabinet, +of the Justices of the Supreme Court, or of rich and influential +Senators, where a woman is absolutely bent on success and takes +pains. I refer particularly to the wives, because a single man, if +he is reasonably presentable and ambitious, can go about more or +less, even if he is a little rough, for men are apt to be scarce. +But the line is drawn on the women unless they +are—er—really important and have to be tolerated for +official reasons. Now every woman who is not <i>persona grata</i>, +as the diplomats say, anywhere else, is apt to attend the +President's reception in all her finery, and that's why I suggested +that this sort of thing isn't exactly an edifying social event. +It's amusing to come here now and then, just as it's amusing to go +to a menagerie. You see what I mean, don't you?" Flossy asked, +plying her feathery fan with blithe nonchalance and looking into +her companion's face with an innocent air.</p> +<p>"I understand perfectly. And who are these people who draw the +line?"</p> +<p>"It sometimes happens," continued Flossy abstractedly, without +appearing to hear this inquiry, "that they improve after they've +been in Washington a few years. Take Mrs. Baker, the Secretary of +the Interior's wife, receiving to-night. When her husband came to +Washington three years ago she had the social adaptability of a +solemn horse. But she persevered and learned, and now as a Cabinet +lady she unbends, and is no longer afraid of compromising her +dignity by wearing becoming clothes and smiling occasionally. But +you were asking who the people are who draw the line. The nice +people here just as everywhere else; the people who have been well +educated and have fine sensibilities, and who believe in modesty, +and unselfishness and thorough ways of doing things. You must know +the sort of people I mean. Some of them make too much of mere +manners, but as a class they are able to draw the line because they +draw it in favor of distinction of character as opposed +to—what shall I call it?—haphazard custom-made ethics +and social deportment."</p> +<p>Flossy spoke with the artless prattle of one seeking to make +herself agreeable to a new-comer by explaining the existing order +of things, but she had chosen her words as she proceeded with +special reference to her listener's case. There was nothing in her +manner to suggest that she was trifling with the feelings of the +wife of Hon. James O. Lyons, but to Selma's sensitive ear there was +no doubt that the impertinent and unpatriotic tirade had been +deliberately aimed at her. The closing words had a disagreeably +familiar sound. Save that they fell from seemingly friendly lips +they recalled the ban which Flossy had hurled at her at the close +of their last meeting—the ban which had decided her to +declare unwavering hostility against social exclusiveness. Its +veiled reiteration now made her nerves tingle, but the personal +affront stirred her less than the conclusion, which the whole of +Flossy's commentary suggested, that Washington—Washington the +hearth-stone of American ideals, was contaminated also. Flossy had +given her to understand that the houses which she had assumed to be +occupied by members of the Government were chiefly the residences +of people resembling in character those whom she had disapproved of +in New York. Flossy had intimated that unless a woman were hand in +glove with these people and ready to lower herself to their +standards, she must be the wife of a rich Senator to be tolerated. +Flossy had virtually told her that a Congressman's wife was nobody. +Could this be true? The bitterest part of all was that it was +evident Flossy spoke with the assurance of one uttering familiar +truths. Selma felt affronted and bitterly disappointed, but she +chose to meet Mrs. Williams's innocent affability with composure; +to let her see that she disagreed with her, but not to reveal her +personal irritation. She must consider Lyons, whose swift political +promotion was necessary for her plans. It was important that he +should become rich, and if his relations with the firm of Williams +& Van Horne tended to that end, no personal grievance of her +own should disturb them. Even Flossy had conceded that the wives of +the highest officials could not be ignored.</p> +<p>"I fear that we look at these matters from too different a +standpoint to discuss them further," she responded, with an effort +at smiling ease. "Evidently you do not appreciate that to the +majority of the strong women of the country whose husbands have +been sent to Washington as members of the Government social +interests seem trivial compared with the great public questions +they are required to consider. These women doubtless feel little +inclination for fashionable and—or—frivolous +festivities, and find an occasion like this better suited to their +conception of social dignity."</p> +<p>A reply by Flossy to this speech was prevented by the +interruption of Lyons, who brought up Mr. Horace Elton for +introduction to his wife. Selma knew him at once from his likeness +to the description which her husband had given. He was portly and +thick-set, with a large neck, a strong, unemotional, high-colored +face, and closely-shaven, small side whiskers. He made her a low +bow and, after a few moments of conversation, in the course of +which he let fall a complimentary allusion to her husband's +oratorical abilities and gave her to understand that he considered +Lyons's marriage as a wise and enviable proceeding, he invited her +to promenade the room on his arm. Mr. Elton had a low but clear and +dispassionate voice, and a concise utterance. His remarks gave the +impression that he could impart more on any subject if he chose, +and that what he said proceeded from a reserve fund of special, +secret knowledge, a little of which he was willing to confide to +his listener. He enlightened Selma in a few words as to a variety +of the people present, accompanying his identification with a +phrase or two of comprehensive personal detail, which had the savor +of being unknown to the world at large.</p> +<p>"The lady we just passed, Mrs. Lyons, is the wife of the junior +Senator from Nevada. Her husband fell in love with her on the stage +of a mining town theatrical troupe. That tall man, with the profuse +wavy hair and prominent nose, is Congressman Ross of Colorado, the +owner of one of the largest cattle ranches in the Far West. It is +said that he has never smoked, never tasted a glass of liquor, and +never gambled in his life."</p> +<p>In the course of these remarks Mr. Elton simply stated his +interesting facts without comment. He avoided censorious or +satirical allusions to the people to whom he called Selma's +attention. On the contrary, his observations suggested +sympathetically that he desired to point out to her the interesting +personalities of the capital, and that he regarded the +entertainment as an occasion to behold the strong men and women of +the country in their lustre and dignity. As they passed the lady in +pomegranate velvet, Selma said, in her turn, "That is Mrs. Colman, +I believe. Senator Colman's child wife." She added what was in her +thoughts, "I understand that the society people here have taken her +up."</p> +<p>"Yes. She has become a conspicuous figure in Washington. I +remember her, Mrs. Lyons, when she was Addie Farr—before she +married Congressman Polsen of Kentucky. She was a dashing looking +girl in those days, with her black eyes and black ringlets. I +remember she had a coltish way of tossing her head. The story is +that when she accepted Polsen another Kentuckian—a young +planter—who was in love with her, drank laudanum. Now, as you +say, she is being taken up socially, and her husband, the Senator, +is very proud of her success. After all, if a woman is ambitious +and has tact, what can she ask better than to be the wife of a +United States Senator?" He paused a moment, then, with a gallant +sidelong glance at his companion, resumed in a concise whisper, +which had the effect of a disclosure, "Prophecies, especially +political prophecies, are dangerous affairs, but it seems to me not +improbable that before many years have passed the wife of Senator +Lyons will be equally prominent—be as conspicuous socially as +the wife of Senator Colman."</p> +<p>Selma blushed, but not wholly with pleasure. Socially +conspicuous before many years? The splendid prophecy, which went +beyond the limit of Horace Elton's usual caution—for he +combined the faculty of habitual discretion with his chatty +proclivities—was dimmed for Selma by the rasping intimation +that she was not conspicuous yet. Worse still, his statement +shattered the hope, which Flossy's fluent assertions had already +disturbed, that she was to find in Washington a company of +congenial spirits who would appreciate her at her full value +forthwith, and would join with her and under her leadership in +resisting the encroachments of women of the stamp of Mrs. +Williams.</p> +<p>"I am very ambitious for my husband, Mr. Elton, and of course I +have hoped—do hope that some day he will be a Senator. What +you said just now as to the power of his voice to arouse the moral +enthusiasm of the people seemed to be impressively true. I should +be glad to be a Senator's wife, for—for I wish to help him. I +wish to demonstrate the truth of the principles to which both our +lives are dedicated. But I hoped that I might help him +now—that my mission might be clear at once. It seems +according to you that a Congressman's wife is not of much +importance; that her hands are tied."</p> +<p>"Practically so, unless—unless she has unusual social +facility, and the right sort of acquaintances. Beauty, wealth and +ambition are valuable aids, but I always am sorry for women who +come here without friends, and—er—the right sort of +introduction. At any rate, to answer your question frankly, a +Congressman's wife has her spurs to win just as he has. If you were +to set up house-keeping, here, Mrs. Lyons, I've no doubt that a +woman of your attractions and capabilities would soon make a niche +for herself. You have had social experience, which Addie Farr, for +instance, was without."</p> +<p>"I lived in New York for some years with my husband, Mr. +Littleton, so I have a number of Eastern acquaintances."</p> +<p>"I remember you were talking with Mrs. Gregory Williams when I +was introduced to you. The people with whom she is staying are +among the most fashionable in Washington. What I said had reference +to the wife of the every-day Congressman who comes to Washington +expecting recognition. Not to Mrs. James O. Lyons."</p> +<p>Selma bit her lip. She recognized the death-knell of her +cherished expectations. She was not prepared to acknowledge +formally her discomfiture and her disappointment. But she believed +that Mr. Elton, though a plain man, had comprehensive experience +and that he spoke with shrewd knowledge of the situation. She felt +sure that he was not trying to deceive or humiliate her. It was +clear that Washington was contaminated also.</p> +<p>"I dare say I should get on here well enough after a time, +though I should find difficulty in considering that it was right to +give so much time to merely social matters. But Mr. Lyons and I +have already decided that I can be more use to him at present in +Benham. There I feel at home. I am known, and have my friends, and +there I have important work—literary lectures and the +establishment of a large public hospital under way. If the time +comes, as you kindly predict, that my husband is chosen a United +States Senator, I shall be glad to return here and accept the +responsibilities of our position. But I warn you, Mr. +Elton,—I warn the people of Washington," she added with a +wave of her fan, while her eyes sparkled with a stern light "that +when I am one of their leaders, I shall do away with some of +the—er—false customs of the present administration. I +shall insist on preserving our American social traditions +inviolate."</p> +<p>Here was the grain of consolation in the case, which she +clutched at and held up before her mind's eye as a new stimulus to +her patriotism and her conscience. Both Mr. Elton and Flossy had +indicated that there was a point at which exclusiveness was +compelled to stop in its haughty disregard of democratic ideals. +There were certain women whom the people who worshipped lack of +enthusiasm and made an idol of cynicism were obliged to heed and +recognize. They might be able to ignore the intelligence and social +originality of a Congressman's wife, but they dared not turn a cold +shoulder on the wife of a United States Senator. And if a +woman—if she were to occupy this proud position, what a +satisfaction it would be to assert the power which belonged to it; +assert it in behalf of the cause for which she had suffered so +much! Her disappointment tasted bitterly in her mouth, and she was +conscious of stern revolt; but the new hope had already taken +possession of her fancy, and she hastened to prove it by the +ethical standard without which all hopes were valueless to her. +Even now had anyone told her that the ruling passion of her life +was to be wooed and made much of by the very people she professed +to despise, she would have spurned the accuser as a malicious +slanderer. Nor indeed would it have been wholly true. Mrs. Williams +had practically told her this at their last meeting in New York, +and its utterance had convinced her on the contrary of repugnance +to them, and of her desire to be the leader of a social protest +against them. Now here, in Washington of all places, she was +confronted by the bitter suggestion that she was without allies, +and that her enemies were the keepers of the door which led to +leadership and power. Despondency stared her in the face, but a +splendid possibility—aye probability was left. She would not +forsake her principles. She would not lower her flag. She would +return to Benham. Washington refused her homage now, but it should +listen to her and bow before her some day as the wife of one of the +real leaders of the State, whom Society did not dare to ignore.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER VII.</h3> +<p>At the close of the fortnight of her stay in Washington +subsequent to the reception at the White House, Selma found herself +in the same frame of mind as when she parted from Mr. Elton. During +this fortnight her time was spent either in sight seeing or at the +hotel. The exercises at the Capitol were purely formal, preliminary +to a speedy adjournment of Congress. Consequently her husband had +no opportunity to distinguish himself by addressing the house. Of +Flossy she saw nothing, though the two men had several meetings. +Apparently both Lyons and Williams were content with a surface +reconciliation between their wives which did not bar family +intercourse. At least her husband made no suggestion that she +should call on Mrs. Williams, and Flossy's cards did not appear. +Beyond making the acquaintance of a few more wives and daughters in +the hotel, who seemed as solitary as herself, Selma received no +overtures from her own sex. She knew no one, and no one sought her +out or paid her attention. She still saw fit to believe that if she +were to establish herself in Washington and devote her energies to +rallying these wives and daughters about her, she might be able to +prove that Flossy and Mr. Elton were mistaken. But she realized +that the task would be less simple than she had anticipated. +Besides she yearned to return to Benham, and take up again the +thread of active life there. Benham would vindicate her, and some +day Benham would send her back to Washington to claim recognition +and her rightful place.</p> +<p>Lyons himself was in a cheerful mood and found congenial +occupation in visiting with his wife the many historical objects of +interest, and in chatting in various hotel corridors with the +public men of the country, his associates in Congress. His +solicitude in regard to the account which Williams was carrying for +him had been relieved temporarily by an upward turn in the stock +market, and the impending prompt adjournment of Congress had saved +him from the necessity of taking action in regard to the railroad +bill which Williams had solicited him to support. Moreover Selma +had repeated to him Horace Elton's prophecy that it was not +unlikely that some day he would become Senator. To be sure he +recognized that a remark like this uttered to a pretty woman by an +astute man of affairs such as Elton was not to be taken too +seriously. There was no vacancy in the office of Senator from his +state, and none was likely to occur. At the present time, if one +should occur, his party in the state legislature was in a minority. +Hence prophecy was obviously a random proceeding. Nevertheless he +was greatly pleased, for, after all, Elton would scarcely have made +the speech had he not been genuinely well disposed. A senatorship +was one of the great prizes of political life, and one of the +noblest positions in the world. It would afford him a golden +opportunity to leave the impress of his convictions on national +legislation, and defend the liberties of the people by force of the +oratorical gifts which he possessed. Elton had referred to these +gifts in complimentary terms. Was it not reasonable to infer that +Elton would be inclined to promote his political fortunes? Such an +ally would be invaluable, for Elton was a growing power in the +industrial development of the section of the country where they +both lived. He had continued to find him friendly in spite of his +own antagonism on the public platform to corporate power. A +favorite and conscientious hope in his political outlook was that +he might be able to make capital as well as labor believe him to be +a friend without alienating either; that he might obtain support at +the polls from both factions, and thus be left free after election +to work out for their mutual advantage appropriate legislation. He +had avowed himself unmistakably the champion of popular principles +in order to win the confidence of the common people, but his policy +of reasonable conciliation led him to cast sheep's eyes at vested +interests when he could do so without exposing himself to the +charge of inconsistency. Many of his friends were wealthy men, and +his private ambition was to amass a handsome fortune. That had been +the cause of his speculative ventures in local enterprises which +promised large returns, and in the stock market. Horace Elton was a +friend of but three years' standing; one of the men who had +consulted him occasionally in regard to legal matters since he had +become a corporation attorney. He admired Elton's strong, +far-reaching grasp of business affairs, his capacity to formulate +and incubate on plans of magnitude without betraying a sign of his +intentions, and his power to act with lightning despatch and +overwhelming vigor when the moment for the consummation of his +purposes arrived. He also found agreeable Elton's genial, +easy-going ways outside of business hours, which frequently took +the form of social entertainment at which expense seemed to be no +consideration and gastronomic novelties were apt to be presented. +Lyons attended one of these private banquets while in +Washington—a dinner party served to a carefully chosen +company of public men, to which newspaper scribes were unable to +penetrate. This same genial, easy-going tendency of Elton's to make +himself acceptable to those with whom he came in contact took the +form of a gift to Mrs. Lyons of a handsome cameo pin which he +presented to her a day or two after their dialogue at the +President's reception, and for which, as he confidentially informed +Selma, he had been seeking a suitable wearer ever since he had +picked it up in an out-of-the-way store in Brussels the previous +summer.</p> +<p>On the day of their departure Selma, as she took a last look +from the car window at the Capitol and the Washington Monument, +said to her husband: "This is a beautiful city—worthy in many +respects of the genius of the American people—but I never +wish to return to Washington until you are United States +Senator."</p> +<p>"Would you not be satisfied with Justice of the Supreme Court?" +asked Lyons, gayly.</p> +<p>"I should prefer Senator. If you were Senator, you could +probably be appointed to the Supreme Court in case you preferred +that place. I am relying on you, James, to bring me back here some +day."</p> +<p>She whispered this in his ear, as they sat with heads close +together looking back at the swiftly receding city. Selma's hands +were clasped in her lap, and she seemed to her lover to have a +dreamy air—an air suggesting poetry and high ethical resolve +such as he liked to associate with her and their scheme of wedded +life. It pleased him that his wife should feel so confident that +the future had in store for him this great prize, and he allowed +himself to yield to the pathos of the moment and whisper in +reply:</p> +<p>"I will say this, Selma. My business affairs look more +favorable, and, if nothing unforeseen happens, I do not see why we +shouldn't get on reasonably fast. Nowadays, in order to be a United +States Senator comfortably, it is desirable in the first place to +have abundant means."</p> +<p>"Yes."</p> +<p>"We must be patient and God-fearing, and with your help, dear, +and your sympathy, we may live to see what you desire come to pass. +Of course, my ambition is to be Senator, and—and to take you +back to Washington as a Senator's wife."</p> +<p>Selma had not chosen to confide to Lyons in set terms her social +grievance against the capital of her country. But she was glad to +perceive from his last words that he understood she was not +satisfied with the treatment accorded her, and that he also was +looking forward to giving her a position which would enable her to +rebuke the ungodly and presumptuous.</p> +<p>"Thank you, James," she answered. "When that time comes we shall +be able to teach them a number of things. For the present though, I +feel that I can be of best service to you and to the truths which +we are living for by interesting myself in whatever concerns +Benham. We believe in Benham, and Benham seems inclined to believe +in us and our ideas."</p> +<p>The ensuing year passed uneventfully. Lyons was able to be at +home from the first of April to the reassembling of Congress in the +following December. He was glad to give himself up to the enjoyment +of his handsome establishment. He resumed the tenor of his +professional practice, feeling that as a sober-minded, married +citizen he had become of more importance to the community, and he +was eager to bear witness to his sense of responsibility. He took a +more active part in soliciting contributions for evangelizing +benighted countries, and he consented on several occasions to +deliver an address on "Success in Life" to struggling young men of +Benham and the surrounding towns. His easy flow of words, his +dignity and his sober but friendly mien made him a favorite with +audiences, and constantly broadened his circle of acquaintance.</p> +<p>Selma, on her side, took up the organization of the Free +Hospital provided by Mr. Parsons. Her husband left the decision of +all but legal and financial questions to her and Miss Luella +Bailey, who, at Selma's request, was made the third member of the +board of trustees. She decided to call in a committee of prominent +physicians to formulate a programme of procedure in matters purely +medical; but she reserved a right of rejection of their +conclusions, and she insisted on the recognition of certain +cardinal principles, as she called them. She specified that no one +school of medicine should dictate the policy of the hospital as +regards the treatment of patients. To the young physician whom she +selected to assist her in forming this administrative board she +stated, with stern emotion: "I do not intend that it shall be +possible in this hospital for men and women to be sacrificed simply +because doctors are unwilling to avail themselves of the latest +resources of brilliant individual discernment. I know what it means +to see a beloved one die, who might have been saved had the +physician in charge been willing to try new expedients. The doors +of this hospital must be ever open to rising unconventional talent. +There shall be no creeds nor caste of medicine here."</p> +<p>She also specified that the matron in charge of the hospital +should be Mrs. Earle, whose lack of trained experience was more +than counterbalanced by her maternal, humanitarian spirit, as Selma +expressed it. She felt confident that Mrs. Earle would choose as +her assistants competent and skilful persons, and at the same time +that her broad point of view and sympathetic instincts would not +allow her to turn a deaf ear to aspiring but technically ignorant +ability. This selection of Mrs. Earle was a keen pleasure to Selma. +It seemed to her an ideal selection. Mrs. Earle was no longer +young, and was beginning to find the constant labor of lecture and +newspaper work exhausting. This dignified and important post would +provide her with a permanent income, and would afford her an +attractive field for her progressive capabilities.</p> +<p>Selma's choice of young Dr. Ashmun as the head of the medical +board was due to a statement which came to her ears, that he was +reviled by some of the physicians of Benham because he had patented +certain discoveries of his own instead of giving his +fellow-practitioners the benefit of his knowledge. Selma was prompt +to detect in this hostility an envious disposition on the part of +the regular physicians to appropriate the fruits of individual +cleverness and to repress youthful revolt against conventional +methods. Dr. Ashmun regarded his selection as the professional +chief of this new institution as a most auspicious occurrence from +the standpoint of his personal fortunes. He was ambitious, ardent, +and keen to attract attention, with an abundant fund of energy and +a nervous, driving manner. He was, besides, good looking and +fluent, and he quickly perceived the drift of Selma's intentions in +regard to the hospital, and accommodated himself to them with +enthusiasm. They afforded him the very opportunity which he most +desired—the chance to assert himself against his critics, and +to obtain public notice. The watchword of liberty and distrust of +professional canons suited his purposes and his mood, and he threw +himself eagerly into the work of carrying out Selma's projects.</p> +<p>As a result of the selection of Dr. Ashmun and of the other +members of the administrative board, who were chosen with a view to +their availability as sympathetic colleagues, letters of protest +from several physicians appeared in the newspapers complaining that +the new hospital was being conducted on unscientific and shallow +principles, disapproved of by the leading men of the profession. +Selma was indignant yet thrilled. She promptly took steps to refute +the charge, and explained that the hostility of these +correspondents proceeded from envy and hide-bound reluctance to +adopt new and revolutionizing expedients. Through the aid of Mrs. +Earle and Miss Luella Bailey a double-leaded column in the Benham +<i>Sentinel</i> set forth the merits of the new departure in +medicine, which was cleverly described as the revolt of the +talented young men of the profession from the tyranny of their +conservative elders. Benham became divided in opinion as to the +merits of this controversy, and Selma received a number of +anonymous letters through the post approving her stand in behalf of +advanced, independent thought. Among the physicians who were +opposed to her administration of the hospital she recognized with +satisfaction the name of a Dr. Paget, who, as she happened to know, +was Mrs. Hallett Taylor's medical adviser.</p> +<p>Another matter in which Selma became interested was the case of +Mrs. Hamilton. She was a woman who had been born in the +neighborhood of Benham, but had lived for twenty years in England, +and had been tried in England by due process of law for the murder +of her husband and sentenced to imprisonment for life. Some of the +people of the state who had followed the testimony as reported in +the American newspapers had decided that she ought not to have been +convicted. Accordingly a petition setting forth the opinion of her +former neighbors that she was innocent of the charge, and should as +an American citizen be released from custody, was circulated for +signature. A public meeting was held and largely attended, at which +it was resolved to send a monster petition to the British +authorities with a request for Mrs. Hamilton's pardon, and also to +ask the government at Washington to intercede on behalf of the +unfortunate sufferer. The statement of the case appealed vividly to +Selma, and at the public meeting, which was attended chiefly by +women, she spoke, and offered the services of her husband to lay +the matter before the President. It was further resolved to obtain +the names of influential persons all over the country in order that +the petition might show that the sentiment that injustice had been +done was national as well as local.</p> +<p>Selma espoused the case with ardor, and busied herself in +obtaining signatures. She called on Miss Flagg and induced her to +sign by the assurance that the verdict was entirely contrary to the +evidence. She then had recourse to her former sister-in-law, +conceiving that the signature of the President of Wetmore College +would impress the English. She and Pauline had already exchanged +visits, and Pauline had shown no umbrage at her marriage. The +possibility of being rebuffed on this occasion did not occur to +Selma. She took for granted that Pauline would be only too glad to +give her support to so deserving a petition, and she considered +that she was paying her a compliment in soliciting her name for +insertion among the prominent signers. Pauline listened to her +attentively, then replied:</p> +<p>"I am sorry for the woman, if she is innocent: and if she has +been falsely accused, of course she ought to be released. But what +makes you think she is innocent, Selma?"</p> +<p>"The testimony did not justify her conviction. Every one is of +that opinion."</p> +<p>"Have you read the testimony yourself, Selma?"</p> +<p>"No, Pauline."</p> +<p>"Or your husband?"</p> +<p>"My husband is satisfied from what others have told him, just as +I am, that this poor American woman is languishing in prison as the +result of a cruel miscarriage of justice, and that she never +committed the crime of which she has been found guilty. My husband +has had considerable legal experience."</p> +<p>Pauline's questions were nettling, and Selma intended by her +response to suggest the presumptuousness of her sister-in-law's +doubts in the face of competent authority.</p> +<p>"I realize that your husband ought to understand about such +matters, but may one suppose that the English authorities would +deliberately allow an innocent woman to remain in prison? They must +know that the friends of Mrs. Hamilton believe her innocent. Why +should we on this side of the water meddle simply because she was +born an American?"</p> +<p>"Why?" Selma drew herself up proudly. "In the first place I +believe—we believe—that the English are capable of +keeping her in prison on a technicality merely because she is there +already. They are worshippers of legal form and red tape, my +husband says. And as to meddling, why is it not our duty as an +earnest and Christian people to remonstrate against the continued +incarceration of a woman born under our flag and accustomed to +American ideas of justice? Meddling? In my opinion, we should be +cowards and derelict in our duty if we did not protest."</p> +<p>Pauline shook her head. "I cannot see it so. It seems to me an +interference which may make us seem ridiculous in the eyes of the +English, as well as offensive to them. I am sorry, Selma, not to be +able to do as you wish."</p> +<p>Selma rose with burning cheeks, but a stately air. "If that is +your decision, I must do without your name. Already we have many +signatures, and shall obtain hundreds more without difficulty. We +look at things differently, Pauline. Our point of view has never +been the same. Ridiculous? I should be proud of the ridicule of +people too selfish or too unenlightened to heed the outcry of +aspiring humanity. If we had to depend on your little set to strike +the note of progress, I fear we should sit with folded hands most +of the time."</p> +<p>"I do not know what you mean by my little set," said Pauline +with a smile. "I am too busy with my college duties to belong to +any set. I see my friends occasionally just as you see yours; and +as to progress—well, I fear that you are right in your +statement that we shall never look at things alike. To me progress +presupposes in the individual or the community attaining it a +prelude of slow struggle, disheartening doubts, and modest +reverence for previous results—for the accumulated wisdom of +the past."</p> +<p>"I mean by your set the people who think as you do. I understand +your point of view. I should have liked," she added, "to ask you to +share with me the responsibility of directing the policy of the +Benham Free Hospital, had I not known that you would listen to the +voice of conservative authority in preference to that of fearless +innovation."</p> +<p>"I certainly should have hesitated long before I overruled the +experience of those who have devoted their lives to conscientious +effort to discover truth."</p> +<p>"That illustrates admirably the difference between us, Pauline. +No one is more eager to aid the discovery of truth than I, but I +believe that truth often is concealed from those who go on, day +after day, following hum-drum routine, however conscientious. I +recognized that Dr. Ashmun was a live man and had fresh ideas, so I +chose him as our chief of staff, notwithstanding the doctors were +unfriendly to him. As a result, my hospital has individuality, and +is already a success. That's the sort of thing I mean. Good-by," +she said, putting out her hand. "I don't expect to convert you, +Pauline, to look at things my way, but you must realize by this +time that it is the Benham way."</p> +<p>"Yet the leading physicians of Benham disapprove of your plans +for the management of the hospital," said Pauline firmly.</p> +<p>"But the people of Benham approve of them. I prefer their +sanction to that of a coterie of cautious, unenthusiastic +autocrats."</p> +<p>Selma, true to her intentions, did not return to Washington with +her husband when Congress reassembled in December. While she was +absorbed with her philanthropic plans in Benham, Lyons was +performing his public duties; seeking to do the country good +service, and at the right moment to attract attention to himself. +The opportunity to make a speech along the line of his public +professions in behalf of labor against corporate monopoly did not +offer itself until late in the session. He improved the few minutes +allowed him to such advantage that he was listened to with close +attention, and was at once recognized as one of the persuasive and +eloquent speakers of the minority. Before Congress adjourned he +obtained another chance to take part in debate, by which he +produced an equally favorable impression. The newspapers of the +country referred approvingly to his cogent gift of statement and +dignified style of delivery. Both the bills against which he spoke +were passed by the Republican majority, but echoes of his words +came back from some of their constituents, and Lyons was referred +to as certain to be one of the strong men of the House if he +returned to Congress. He went home at the close of the session in a +contented frame of mind so far as his political prospects were +concerned, but he was not free to enjoy the congratulations +accorded him for the reason that his business ventures were +beginning to give him serious solicitude. The trend of the stock +market was again downward. In expectation of a rise from the +previous depression, he had added to the line of shares which +Williams & Van Horne were carrying for him. A slight rise had +come, sufficient to afford him a chance to escape from the toils of +Wall street without loss. But he needed a profit to rehabilitate +his ventures in other directions—his investments in the +enterprises of his own state, which had now for some months +appeared quiescent, if not languishing, from a speculative point of +view. Everything pointed, it was said, to a further advance as soon +as Congress adjourned. So he had waited, and now, although the +session was over, the stock market and financial undertakings of +every sort appeared suddenly to be tottering. He had not been at +home a month before prices of all securities began to shrink +inordinately and the business horizon to grow murky with the clouds +of impending disaster. To add to his worry, Lyons was conscious +that he had pursued a fast and loose mental coarse in regard to the +railroad bill in which his broker, Williams, was interested. He had +given Williams to understand that he would try to see his way to +support it; yet in view of his late prominence in Washington, as a +foe of legislation in behalf of moneyed interests, he was more than +ever averse to casting a vote in its favor. The bill had not been +reached before adjournment, a result to which he had secretly +contributed, but it was certain to be called up shortly after +Congress reassembled. It disturbed him to feel that his affairs in +New York were in such shape that Williams could embarrass him +financially if he chose. It disturbed him still more that he +appeared to himself to be guilty of bad faith. His conscience was +troubled, and his favorite palliative of conciliation did not seem +applicable to the case.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3> +<p>Until this time the course of financial events in Benham since +its evolution from a sleepy country town began had been steadily +prosperous. There had been temporary recessions in prices, +transient haltings in the tendency of new local undertakings to +double and quadruple in value. A few rash individuals, indeed, had +been forced to suspend payments and compound with their creditors. +But there had been no real set back to commercial enthusiasm and +speculative gusto. Those who desired to borrow money for +progressive enterprises had found the banks accommodating and +unsuspicious, and to Benham initiative it yet appeared that the +development of the resources of the neighborhood by the unwearying, +masterful energy of the citizens was still in its infancy.</p> +<p>But now, after a few months of inactivity, which holders of +speculative securities had spoken of as another healthy breathing +spell, the tendency of prices had changed. Had not merely halted, +but showed a radical tendency to shrink; even to tumble feverishly. +Buyers were scarce, and the once accommodating banks displayed a +heartless disposition to scrutinize collateral and to ask +embarrassing questions in regard to commercial paper. Rates of +interest on loans were ruthlessly advanced, and additional security +demanded. A pall of dejection hung over Benham. Evil days had come; +days the fruit of a long period of inflation. A dozen leading firms +failed and carried down with them diverse small people. Amid the +general distrust and anxiety all eyes were fixed on Wall street, +the so-called money centre of the country, the Gehenna where this +cyclone had first manifested itself. The newspapers, voicing Benham +public opinion, cast vituperation at the bankers and brokers of +Wall street, whose unholy jugglings with fortune had brought this +commercial blight on the community. Wall street had locked up +money; consequently funds were tight in Benham, and the plans of +its honest burghers to promote enterprise and develop the lawful +industries of the country were interrupted. So spoke public +opinion, and, at the same time, hundreds of private letters were +being despatched through the Benham Post Office in response to +requests for more margins on stocks held for the honest burghers by +the fraternity of Wall street gamblers. There was private wailing +and gnashing of teeth also, for in the panic a few of these bankers +and brokers had been submerged, and the collateral of Benham's +leading citizens had been swept away.</p> +<p>The panic itself was brief as panics always are, but it left +behind it everywhere a paralyzed community. So far as Benham was +concerned, only a few actually failed, but, in a host of instances, +possessors of property who had thought themselves wealthy a year +before found that they were face to face with the knotty problem of +nursing their dwarfed resources so as to avoid eventual insolvency. +Everything had shrunk fifty—often one hundred—per +cent., for the basis of Benham's semi-fabulous development had been +borrowed money. Many of Benham's leading citizens were down to hard +pan, so to speak. Their inchoate enterprises were being carried by +the banks on the smallest margins consistent with the solvency of +those institutions, and clear-headed men knew that months of +recuperation must elapse before speculative properties would show +life again. Benham was consequently gloomy for once in despite of +its native buoyancy. It would have arisen from the ashes of a fire +as strenuous as a young lion. But, with everybody's stocks and +merchandise pledged to the money lenders, enterprise was gripped by +the throat. In the pride of its prosperity Benham had dreamed that +it was a law unto itself, and that even Wall street could not +affect its rosy commercial destinies. It appeared to pious owners +of securities almost as though God had deserted his chosen city of +a chosen country.</p> +<p>Lyons was among those upon whom the harrow of this fall in +prices and subsequent hand-to-mouth struggle with the banks pressed +with unpleasant rigor. In business phraseology he was too much +extended. Consequently, as the margins of value of the securities +on which he had borrowed dropped away, he was kept on tenter-hooks +as to the future. In case the process of shrinkage went much +further, he would be required to supply more collateral; and, if +the rate of money did not fall, the banks would refuse to renew his +notes as they became due, unless he could furnish clear evidence of +his solvency. He was owing over one hundred and fifty thousand +dollars on paper secured only by the stock and bonds of brand-new +enterprises, which had no market negotiability. From the money +which he had borrowed he had sent, from time to time, to Williams +and Van Horne an aggregate of forty thousand dollars to protect +some two thousand shares of railroad stocks. Williams had +especially commended the shares of the coal-carrying roads to his +attention, and the drop in prices had been uniformly severe in +these properties. Instead of being the possessor of a stable +quarter of a million, which he considered to be the value of his +property at the time of his election to Congress, Lyons suddenly +realized that he was on the brink of a serious financial collapse +through which he might lose everything before he could discharge +his liabilities. It seemed cruel to him, for he believed that all +his ventures were sound, and that if he were not forced to +sacrifice his possessions, their future value would attest his +sagacity. But at present the securities of speculative enterprises +were practically worthless as procurers of ready money. The extreme +circumstances had come upon him with startling rapidity, so that he +found himself in the unpleasant predicament of having used for +temporary relief some of the bonds belonging to the Parsons estate +which he held as executor. He had forwarded these to Williams +merely as a matter of convenience before he had become anxious, +expecting to be able to replace them with funds coming to him +within thirty days from a piece of real estate for which he had +received an offer. He had held off in the hope of obtaining a +higher price. The following week, when signs of danger were +multiplying, he had found the would-be purchaser unwilling to buy +at any price. Realizing the compromising position in which he had +placed himself by his action, he had cast about feverishly for the +means to redeem the hypothecated securities, but all his resources +were taxed of a sudden by the advent of the panic. It occurred to +him to ask Selma to allow substitution of the twenty thousand +dollars, which had been apportioned, to her as her legacy, for the +bonds, but at first he had shrunk from the mortification of +disclosing his condition to her, and now that the situation had +developed, he feared that he might be obliged to borrow this money +from her for the protection of his other interests. It gave him +sore concern that he, a champion of moral ideas, a leading church +member, and a Representative of the Federal Government should be +put in such an equivocal position. Here again there was no +opportunity for conciliation, and dignified urbanity was of no +avail. If the condition of drooping prices and general distrust, a +sort of commercial dry-rot, which had succeeded the panic, +continued much longer he would be driven to the wall unless relief +were forthcoming. Nor was it much consolation that many others were +on the verge of failure. Financial insolvency for him would mean +the probable loss of his seat in Congress, and the serious +interruption of his political career. From what source could he +hope for relief? The preparations for the autumn campaign were +already being considered, and there was likelihood of another close +contest between the two political parties. But for the worry +occasioned by his plight, he would have resumed the contest with +hopeful ardor, appreciating that the pecuniary distress of the +community would be likely to work to his advantage. His own +nomination was assured; his re-election appeared probable. But +after it what could he expect but the deluge?</p> +<p>One source of the effectiveness of Horace Elton was that he was +wont to exercise foresight, and make his plans in advance while +other men were slumbering. He had been prepared for the panic +because he had been expecting it for more than a year, and the ship +of his financial fortunes was close reefed to meet the fury of the +overdue gale. Also he was quick to recognize that the wide-spread +depreciation of values would inevitably be followed by a period of +business inactivity which would throw out of employment a large +number of wage earners whose ballots as a consequence would be cast +against the political party in power. As far back as the time when +he made the acquaintance of Selma at Washington and selected her as +the wearer of his cameo pin, he had been incubating on a scheme for +the consolidation of the gas companies in the cities and towns of +the state into one large corporation. For this corporation he +required a liberal charter, which the next legislature would be +invited to grant. He expected to be able to procure this franchise +from the legislature, but he judged that the majority in favor of +the bill would not be large enough to pass it over the Governor's +veto. Accordingly it was of the first importance that the Governor +should be friendly to the measure.</p> +<p>This was the year of the Presidential election. Both political +parties were seeking to nominate their strongest candidates for the +various federal and state offices. A promoter of large business +schemes was at a disadvantage in a campaign where party feelings +ran high and national issues were involved, and Elton knew it. He +commonly chose an off year in politics for the consummation of his +business deals. But he had chosen to push his bill this year for +the reason that he wished to be in a position to buy out the +sub-companies cheaply. The community was pressed for ready money, +and many men who would be slow in prosperous times to extract gas +shares from their tin boxes and stockings would be glad to avail +themselves of a reasonable cash offer. Elton was a Republican on +national issues. His experience had been that the Republican Party +was fundamentally friendly to corporations, in spite of occasional +pious ejaculations in party platforms to the contrary. He had a +Republican candidate for Governor in mind who would be faithful to +his interests; but this candidate was put aside in the convention +in deference to the sentiment that only a man of first-rate mental +and moral calibre could command the allegiance of independent +voters, whose co-operation seemed essential to party success. The +Republican state convention was held three weeks prior to the date +fixed for that of their opponents. Within twenty-four hours +subsequent to the nomination of Hon. John Patterson as the +Republican candidate for Governor, while the party organs were +congratulating the public on his selection, and the leaders of the +party were endeavoring to suppress the murmurs of the disappointed +lower order of politicians who, in metaphorical phrase, felt that +they were sewed up in a sack for another two years by the choice of +this strong citizen, one of the most widely circulated democratic +newspapers announced in large type on its front page that Hon. +James O. Lyons was the only Democrat who could defeat him in the +gubernatorial contest. Behind the ledger sheet of this +newspaper—which was no other than the Benham +<i>Sentinel</i>—lurked the keen intelligence of Horace Elton. +He knew that the candidate of his own party would never consent to +indicate in advance what his action on the gas bill would be, and +that he would only prejudice his chances of obtaining favorable +action when the time arrived by any attempt to forestall a +decision. This did not suit Horace Elton. He was accustomed to be +able to obtain an inkling before election that legislation in which +he was interested would not encounter a veto. His measures were +never dishonest. That is, he never sought to foist bogus or +fraudulent undertakings upon the community. He was seeking, to be +sure, eventual emolument for himself, but he believed that the +franchise which he was anxious to obtain would result in more +progressive and more effectual public service. He had never before +felt obliged to refrain from asking direct or indirect assurance +that his plans would be respected by the Governor. Yet he had +foreseen the possibility of just such an occurrence. The one chance +in a hundred had happened and he was ready for it. He intended to +contribute to the Republican national campaign fund, but he did not +feel that the interests of his State would suffer if he used all +the influences at his command to secure a Governor who would be +friendly to his scheme, and Congressman Lyons appeared to him the +most available man for his purpose.</p> +<p>It had already occurred to Lyons that his nomination as Governor +was a possibility, for the leaders of the party were ostensibly +looking about for a desirable Democrat with whom to confront +Patterson, and had shown an intention to turn a cold shoulder on +the ambition of several aspirants for this honor who might have +been encouraged in an ordinary year as probable victors. He knew +that his name was under consideration, and he had made up his mind +that he would accept the nomination if it were offered to him. He +would regret the interruption of his Congressional career, but he +felt that his election as Governor in a presidential year after a +close contest would make him the leader of the party in the State, +and, in case the candidate of his party were chosen President, +would entitle him to important recognition from the new +administration. Moreover, if he became Governor, his financial +status would be strengthened. The banks would be more likely to +accommodate one in such a powerful position, and he might be able +to keep his head above water until better times brought about a +return of public confidence and a recovery in prices. Yet he felt +by no means sure that even as Governor he could escape betraying +his financial embarrassment, and his mind was so oppressed by the +predicament in which he found himself that he made no effort on his +own part to cause the party leaders to fix their choice on him. Nor +did he mention the possibility of his selection to Selma. +Mortification and self-reproach had made him for the moment inert +as to his political future, and reluctant to confide his troubles +to her.</p> +<p>The clarion declaration of the Benham <i>Sentinel</i> in favor +of Lyons evoked sympathetic echoes over the State, which promptly +convinced the political chieftains that he was the strongest +candidate to pit against Patterson. The enthusiasm caused by the +suggestion of his name spread rapidly, and at the end of a week his +nomination at the convention was regarded as certain.</p> +<p>The championship of the <i>Sentinel</i> was a complete surprise +to Selma. She had assumed that her husband would return to +Washington, and that political promotion for the present was out of +the question. When she saw her husband's features looking out at +her from a large cut on the front page of the morning newspaper, +and read the conspicuous heading which accompanied it—"The +<i>Sentinel</i> nominates as Governor the Hon. James O. Lyons of +Benham, the most eloquent orator and most public-spirited citizen +of the State"—her heart gave a bound, and she eagerly asked +herself, "Why not?" That was just what they needed, what she needed +to secure her hold on the social evolution of Benham. As the wife +of the Governor of the State she would be able to ignore the people +who held aloof from her, and introduce the reforms in social +behavior on which her heart was set.</p> +<p>"James, have you seen this?" she asked, eagerly.</p> +<p>Lyons was watching her from across the breakfast table. He had +seen it, and had laid the newspaper within her reach.</p> +<p>"Yes, dear. It is very complimentary, isn't it?"</p> +<p>"But what does it mean? Are you to be Governor? Did you know of +it, James?"</p> +<p>"I knew that my name, with others, had been mentioned by those +who were looking for a candidate whom we can elect. But this +nomination of the <i>Sentinel</i> comes from a clear sky. Would you +like to have me Governor, Selma?"</p> +<p>"Yes, indeed. If the chance is offered you, James, you will +surely accept it. It would please me immensely to see you Governor. +We should not be separated then part of the year, and—and I +should be able here in Benham to help you as your wife ought to +help you. I know," she added, "that you have been looking forward +to the next session of Congress, in the hope of distinguishing +yourself, but isn't this a finer opportunity? Doesn't it open the +door to splendid possibilities?"</p> +<p>Lyons nodded. His wife's eager presentation of the case +confirmed his own conclusions. "It is an important decision to +make," he said, with gravity. "If I am not elected, I shall have +lost my place in the Congressional line, and may find difficulty in +recovering it later. But if the party needs me, if the State needs +me, I must not think of that. I cannot help being gratified, +encouraged by the suggestion that my fellow-citizens of my +political faith are turning to me as their standard-bearer at this +time when great public issues are involved. If I can serve God and +my country in this way, and at the same time please you, my wife, +what can I ask better?"</p> +<p>He spoke with genuine feeling and reverence, for it was in +keeping with his religious tendencies to recognize in advance the +solemn responsibilities of high office, and to picture himself as +the agent of the heavenly powers. This attitude of mind always +found Selma sympathetic and harmonious. Her eyes kindled with +enthusiasm, and she replied:</p> +<p>"You view the matter as I would have you view it, James. If this +trust is committed to us by Providence, it is our duty to accept it +as lovers of our country and promoters of true progress."</p> +<p>"It would seem so. And in some ways," he said, as though he felt +the impulse to be reasonably frank toward Providence in his +acceptance of the trust, "my election as Governor would be +advantageous to my political and business interests. I have not +sought the office," he added with dignified unction, "but my +knowledge of local conditions leads me to believe that this action +of the <i>Sentinel</i> signifies that certain powerful influences +are working in my favor. I shall be able to tell you more +accurately in regard to this before long."</p> +<p>Lyons happened to know that the Benham <i>Sentinel</i> had +enlarged its plant two years previous, and that Horace Elton was +still the holder of its notes for borrowed money. The transaction +had passed through his bank, and in the course of his mental search +for reasons to account for the sudden flat-footed stand of the +newspaper, the thought came into his mind and dwelt there that +Elton was at the bottom of it. If so, what was Elton's reason? Why +should Elton, a Republican, desire his nomination? Surely not to +compass his defeat.</p> +<p>In this connection Elton's friendship and the prophecy made to +Selma as to his political future occurred to him and forbade an +invidious supposition. "Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and thou shalt +be what thou art promised!" Lyons left Selma with the conviction +that he would find Elton to be mainly responsible for what had +taken place. Shortly after reaching his office he received a note +from him asking for an appointment. Punctually at twelve o'clock +Elton arrived and was shown into Lyons's private room. Lyons gave +orders that he was not to be disturbed, for he believed that the +results of the interview were likely to have a serious bearing on +his career as a statesman.</p> +<p>Both men were of heavy physique, but as they sat facing each +other an observer would have remarked that Elton's visage possessed +a clean-cut compactness of expression despite its rotund contour. +His closely trimmed whiskers, his small, clear, penetrating eyes, +and the effect of neatness conveyed by his personal appearance were +so many external indications of his mental lucidity and +precision.</p> +<p>In contrast Lyons's moon-shaped face, emphasized by its +smooth-shaven mobile mouth, below which his almost white chin beard +hung pendent, expressed a curious interplay of emotional sanctity, +urbane shrewdness, and solemn self-importance.</p> +<p>"Governor Lyons, at your service," said Elton, regarding him +steadily.</p> +<p>"Do you think so?"</p> +<p>"I know so, if you desire it."</p> +<p>"The nomination, you mean?"</p> +<p>"The election by a comfortable majority."</p> +<p>Lyons breathed hard with satisfaction. "If the people of the +State choose to confide their interests to my custody, I shall not +refuse to serve them."</p> +<p>"So I supposed. You may be wondering, Lyons, why I, a +Republican, should be talking like this. I will tell you. +Observation has led me to believe that the people of this State +will elect a Democratic Governor this year. The hard times will +hurt the administration. Consequently, as your friend and my own +friend, I have taken the liberty to indicate to the managers of +your party their strongest man. I am responsible for what you saw +on the front page of the <i>Sentinel</i> this morning. There need +not be much difficulty," he added, significantly, "in securing +emphatic endorsement throughout the State of the <i>Sentinel's</i> +preference."</p> +<p>Lyons looked grave. "You must be aware that our views on public +questions—especially those which concern the relations of +capital and labor—are not the same."</p> +<p>"Certainly. I tell you frankly that while, from a humanitarian +point of view, I respect your desire to relieve the inequalities of +modern civilization, as a business man and a man of some property I +do not regard the remedies presented by your party platform as just +or adequate. I recognize that your opinions are hostile to +corporate interests, but I have gathered also that you are disposed +to be reasonable and conciliatory; that you are not inclined to +regard all men and all measures as dangerous, merely because they +have means or are introduced in the name of capital."</p> +<p>"It has always seemed to me that a conciliatory spirit secures +the most definite results for the public," assented Lyons.</p> +<p>"Precisely. See here, Lyons," Elton said, leaning forward across +the table at which they were sitting, "I wish to be entirely frank +with you. You know me well enough to understand that I have not +offered you my support in any philanthropic spirit. I could not +have deceived you as to this had I tried. I am a practical man, and +have an axe to grind. I am urging your election as Governor because +I believe you to possess intelligent capacity to discriminate +between what is harmful to the community and what is due to +healthy, individual enterprise—the energy which is the sap of +American citizenship. We capitalists have no fear of an honest man, +provided he has the desire and the ability to protect legitimate +business acumen against the slander of mere demagogues. I have a +bill here," he added, drawing a printed document from his pocket, +"which I am desirous to see passed by the next legislature. It +embodies a charter authorizing the acquisition and merger in one +corporation of all the gas companies of this State, and an +extension of corporate powers so as to cover all forms of municipal +lighting. Were your hands not tied by your prospective election, I +should be glad to offer you an opportunity to become one of the +incorporators, for I believe that the undertaking will be +lucrative. That, of course, is out of the question. Now then, this +is a perfectly honest bill. On its face, to be sure, it secures a +valuable franchise for the petitioners, and consequently may +encounter some opposition. But, on the other hand, no one who +considers the matter candidly and closely can fail to recognize +that the great public will secure cheaper gas and more efficient +service as the result of the consolidation. And there is where I +felt that I could count on your intelligence. You would not allow +the plea that capitalists were interested in obtaining a profitable +franchise to obscure the more vital consideration that the +community will be the true gainers."</p> +<p>Lyons bowed graciously, and stroked his beard. "What is it you +wish me to do?" he asked.</p> +<p>"To read the bill in the first place; to convince yourself that +what I have told you is true; to satisfy yourself that the measure +is essentially harmless. The bill is not long. Read it now and let +me hear your objections. I have some papers here to look over which +will occupy me a quarter of an hour, if you can spare me the +time."</p> +<p>Lyons acquiesced, and proceeded to peruse slowly the document. +When he had finished it he folded it solemnly and returned it to +Elton. "It is a bill framed in the interest of capital, but I +cannot say that the public will be prejudiced by it. On the +contrary, I should judge that the price of gas in our cities and +towns would be lowered as a consequence of the reduction in running +expenses caused by the projected consolidation. What is it that you +wish me to do?"</p> +<p>"Agree to sign the bill as it now stands if it passes the +legislature."</p> +<p>Lyons rested his head on his hand and his mouth moved +tremulously. "If I am elected governor," he said, "I wish to serve +the people honestly and fearlessly."</p> +<p>"I am sure of it. I ask you to point out to me in what manner +this bill trenches upon the rights of the people. You yourself have +noted the crucial consequence: It will lower the price of gas. If +at the same time I am benefited financially, why should I not reap +the reasonable reward of my foresight?"</p> +<p>"I will sign the bill, Elton, if it comes to me for signature. I +may be criticised at first, but the improved public service and +reduction of the gas bills will be my justification, and show that +I have not been unmindful of the interests of the great public +whose burdens my party is seeking to lighten."</p> +<p>"I shall count on you, then," said Elton, after a pause. "The +failure of the bill at the last stage when I was expecting its +passage might affect my affairs seriously."</p> +<p>"If the legislature does its part, I will do mine," responded +Lyons, augustly. "I will sign the bill if it comes to me in the +present form."</p> +<p>"I thank you, Governor."</p> +<p>Lyons looked confused but happy at the appellation.</p> +<p>"By the way," said Elton, after he had returned the papers to +his pocket, "these are trying times for men with financial +obligations. It is my custom to be frank and not to mince matters +where important interests are concerned. A candidate for office in +this campaign will need the use of all his faculties if he is to be +successful. I should be very sorry for the sake of my bill to allow +your mind to be distracted by solicitude in regard to your private +affairs. Some of the best and most prudent of our business men are +pressed to-day for ready money. I am in a position to give you +temporary assistance if you require it. In justice to my interests +you must not let delicacy stand in the way of your accepting my +offer."</p> +<p>Lyons's bosom swelled with the tide of returning happiness. He +had scarcely been able to believe his ears. Yet here was a +definite, spontaneous proposition to remove the incubus which +weighed upon his soul. Here was an opportunity to redeem the bonds +of the Parsons estate and to repair his damaged self-respect. It +seemed to him as though the clouds of adversity which had +encompassed him had suddenly been swept away, and that Providence +was smiling down at him as her approved and favorite son. His +emotion choked his speech. His lip trembled and his eyes looked as +though they would fill with tears. After a brief pause he +articulated that he was somewhat pressed for ready money. Some +explanation of his affairs followed, the upshot of which was that +Elton agreed to indorse Lyons's promissory notes held by the banks +to the amount of $60,000, and to accept as collateral for a +personal loan of $40,000 certain securities of new local +enterprises which had no present marketable value. By this +arrangement his property was amply protected from sacrifice; he +would be able to adjust his speculative account in New York; and he +could await with a tranquil soul the return of commercial +confidence. Lyons's heart was overflowing with satisfaction. He +pressed Elton's hand and endeavored to express his gratitude with +appropriate grandiloquence. But Elton disclaimed the obligation, +asserting that he had acted merely from self-interest to make the +election of his candidate more certain.</p> +<p>The loan of $40,000 was completed within forty-eight hours, and +before the end of another week Lyons had rescued the bonds of the +Parsons estate from pawn, and disposed of his line of stocks +carried by Williams & Van Horne. They were sold at a +considerable loss, but he made up his mind to free his soul for the +time being from the toils and torment of speculation and to nurse +his dwarfed resources behind the bulwark of Elton's relief fund +until the financial situation cleared. He felt as though he had +grown ten years younger, and without confiding to Selma the details +of these transactions he informed her ecstatically that, owing to +certain important developments, due partly to the friendliness of +Horace Elton, the outlook for their future advancement had never +been so bright. When a month later he was nominated as Governor he +threw himself into the contest with the convincing ardor of +sincere, untrammelled faith in the reforms he was advocating. His +speeches reflected complete concentration of his powers on the +issues of the campaign and evoked enthusiasm throughout the State +by their eloquent arraignment of corporate rapacity at the expense +of the sovereign people. In several of his most telling addresses +he accused the national administration of pandering to the +un-American gamblers who bought and sold stocks in Wall street.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER IX.</h3> +<p>Lyons was chosen Governor by a large majority, as Elton had +predicted. The Republican Party was worsted at the polls and driven +out of power both at Washington and in the State. Lyons ran ahead +of his ticket, receiving more votes than the presidential electors. +The campaign was full of incidents grateful to Selma's self esteem. +Chief among these was the conspicuous allusions accorded her by the +newspapers. The campaign itself was a fervid repetition of the +stirring scenes of two years previous. Once more torch-light +processions in vociferous serried columns attested the intensity of +party spirit. Selma felt herself an adept through her former +experience, and she lost no opportunity to show herself in public +and bear witness to her devotion to her husband's cause. It pleased +her to think that the people recognized her when she appeared on +the balcony or reviewing stand, and that her presence evoked an +increase of enthusiasm.</p> +<p>But the newspaper publicity was even more satisfying, for it +centred attention unequivocally on her. Columns of descriptive +matter relative to her husband's personality began to appear as +soon as it became obvious that he was to be Governor. These +articles aimed to be exhaustive in their character, covering the +entire scope of his past life, disclosing pitiless details in +regard to his habits, tastes, and private concerns. Nothing which +could be discovered or ferreted out was omitted; and most of these +biographies were illuminated by a variety of more or less hideous +cuts showing, for example, his excellency as he looked as a school +boy, his excellency as a fledgling attorney, the humble home where +his excellency was born, and his excellency's present stately but +hospitable residence on Benham's River Drive. Almost every +newspaper in the State took its turn at contributing something +which it conceived to be edifying to this reportorial budget. And +after the Governor, came the turn of the Governor's lady, as she +was called.</p> +<p>Selma liked best the articles devoted exclusively to herself; +where she appeared as the special feature of the newspaper issue, +not merely as an adjunct to her husband. But she liked them all, +and she was most benignant in her reception of the several +newspaper scribes, principally of her own sex, who sought an +interview for the sake of copy. She withheld nothing in regard to +her person, talents, household, or tastes which would in her +opinion be effective in print. She had a photograph of herself +taken in simple, domestic matronly garb to supplement those which +she already possessed, one of which revealed the magnificence of +the attire she wore at the President's Reception; another portrayed +Littleton's earnest bride, and still a fourth disclosed her as the +wistful, aspiring school-mistress on the threshold of womanhood. +These, and the facts appropriate to them, she meted out to her +biographers from time to time, lubricating her amiable confidences +with the assertion that both she and her husband felt that the +people were entitled to be made familiar with the lives of their +public representatives. As the result of her gracious behavior, her +willingness to supply interesting details concerning herself, and +her flattering tendency to become intimate on the spot with the +reporters who visited her, the newspaper articles in most cases +were in keeping with Selma's prepossessions. Those which pleased +her most emphasized in the first place her intellectual gifts and +literary talents, intimating delicately that she had refused +brilliant offers for usefulness with her pen and on the lecture +platform in order to become the wife of Congressman Lyons, to whom +her counsel and high ideals of public service were a constant +stimulus. Emphasized in the second place her husband's and her own +pious tastes, and strong religious convictions, to which their +constant church attendance and the simple sanctity of their +American home bore testimony. Emphasized in the third +place—reproducing ordinarily a sketch and cut of her +drawing-room—her great social gifts and graces, which had +made her a leader of society in the best sense of the word both in +Benham and in New York. A few of the articles stated in judicious +terms that she had been twice a widow. Only one of them set this +forth in conspicuous and opprobrious terms: "Her Third Husband! Our +Chief Magistrate's Wife's Many Marriages!" Such was the +unsympathetic, alliterative heading of the malicious statement +which appeared in an opposition organ. It did no more than recall +the fact that she had obtained a divorce from her first husband, +who had in his despair taken to drink, and intimate that her second +husband had not been altogether happy. Selma wept when she read the +article. She felt that it was cruel and uncalled for; that it told +only half the truth and traduced her before the American people. +She chose to conceive that it had been inspired by Pauline and Mrs. +Hallett Taylor, neither of whom had sent her a word of +congratulation on her promotion to be the Governor's wife. Who but +Pauline knew that her marriage with Littleton had not been +completely harmonious? Who but Mrs. Taylor or one of her set would +have the malice to insinuate that she had been merciless to +Babcock? This was one libel in a long series of complimentary +productions. The representation of the family group was made +complete by occasional references to the Governor elect's +mother—"Mother Lyons, the venerable parent of our chief +magistrate." Altogether Selma felt that the picture presented to +the public was a truthful and inspiring record of pious and +enterprising American life, which showed to the community that its +choice of a Governor had been wise and was merited.</p> +<p>Close upon the election and these eulogistic biographies came +the inauguration, with Lyons's eloquent address. Selma, of course, +had special privileges—a reserved gallery in the State House, +to which she issued cards of admission to friends of her own +selection. Occupying in festal attire the centre of this +conspicuous group, she felt that she was the cynosure of every eye. +She perceived that she was constantly pointed out as the second +personage of the occasion. To the few legislators on the floor whom +she already knew she took pains to bow from her seat with gracious +cordiality, intending from the outset to aid her husband by +captivating his friends and conciliating the leaders of the +opposition party. On her way to and from the gallery she was joined +by several members, to each of whom she tried to convey subtly the +impression that she purposed to take an earnest interest in +legislative affairs, and that her husband would be apt to consult +her in regard to close questions. On the morning after the +inauguration she had the satisfaction of seeing her own portrait +side by side with that of her husband on the front page of two +newspapers, a flattering indication, as she believed, that the +press already recognized her value both as a helpmate to him and an +ornament to the State. She took up her life as the Governor's lady +feeling that her talents and eagerness to do good had finally +prevailed and that true happiness at last was in store for her. She +was satisfied with her husband and recognized his righteous purpose +and capacity as a statesman, but she believed secretly that his +rapid success was due in a large measure to her genius. Her +prompting had inspired him to make a notable speech in his first +Congress. Her charms and clever conversation had magnetized Mr. +Elton so that he had seen fit to nominate him for Governor. A fresh +impulse to her self-congratulation that virtue and ability were +reaping their reward was given a few weeks later by the +announcement which Lyons read from the morning newspaper that the +firm of Williams & Van Horne had failed disastrously. The +circumstances attending their down-fall were sensational. It +appeared that Van Horne, the office partner, who managed the +finances, had shot himself as the culmination of a series of +fraudulent hypothecations of securities and misrepresentations to +which it was claimed that Williams was not a party. The firm had +been hopelessly insolvent for months, and had been forced to the +wall at last by a futile effort on the part of Van Horne to redeem +the situation by a final speculation on a large scale. It had +failed owing to the continuation of the state of dry rot in the +stock market, and utter ruin followed.</p> +<p>The regret which Lyons entertained as he read aloud the tragic +story was overshadowed in his mind by his own thankfulness that he +had redeemed the bonds and settled his account with them before the +crash came. He was so absorbed by his own emotions that he failed +to note the triumphant tone of his wife's ejaculation of amazement. +"Failed! Williams & Van Horne failed! Oh, how did it happen? I +always felt sure that they would fail sooner or later."</p> +<p>Selma sat with tightly folded hands listening to the exciting +narrative, which Lyons read for her edification with the urbanely +mournful emphasis of one who has had a narrow escape. He stopped in +the course of it to relieve any solicitude which she might be +feeling in regard to his dealings with the firm, by the assertion +that he had only two months previous closed out his account owing +to the conviction that prudent investors were getting under cover. +This assurance gave the episode a still more providential aspect in +Selma's eyes. In the first flush of her gratitude that Flossy had +been superbly rebuked for her frivolous existence, she had +forgotten that they were her husband's brokers. Moreover the lack +of perturbation in his manner was not calculated to inspire alarm. +But the news that Lyons had been shrewd enough to escape at the +twelfth hour without a dollar's loss heightened the justice of the +situation. She listened with throbbing pulses to the particulars. +She could scarcely credit her senses that her irrepressible and +light-hearted enemy had been confounded at last—confronted +with bankruptcy and probable disgrace. She interrupted the reading +to express her scepticism regarding the claim that Williams had no +knowledge of the frauds.</p> +<p>"How could he be ignorant? He must have known. He must have +bribed the reporters to put that in so as to arouse the sympathy of +some of their fashionable friends. Van Horne is dead, and the lips +of the dead are sealed."</p> +<p>Selma spoke with the confidence born of bitterness. She was +pleased with her acumen in discerning the true inwardness of the +case. Her husband nodded with mournful acquiescence. "It would +seem," he said, "as if he must have had an inkling, at least, of +what was going on."</p> +<p>"Of course he had. Gregory Williams, with all his faults, was a +wide-awake man. I always said that."</p> +<p>Lyons completed the reading and murmured with a sigh, which was +half pity, half grateful acknowledgment of his own good +fortune—"It's a bad piece of business. I'm glad I had the +sense to act promptly."</p> +<p>Selma was ruminating. Her steel bright eyes shone with +exultation. Her sense of righteousness was gratified and +temporarily appeased. "They'll have to sell their house, of course, +and give up their horses and steam-yacht? I don't see why it +doesn't mean that Flossy and her husband must come down off their +pedestal and begin over again? It follows, doesn't it, that the +heartless set into which they have wormed their way will drop them +like hot coals?"</p> +<p>All these remarks were put by Selma in the slightly +interrogative form, as though she were courting any argument to the +contrary which could be adduced in order to knock it in the head. +But Lyons saw no reason to differ from her verdict. "It means +necessarily great mortification for them and a curtailment of their +present mode of life," he said. "I am sorry for them."</p> +<p>"Sorry? Of course, James, it is distressing to hear that +misfortune has befallen any person of one's acquaintance, and so +far as Gregory Williams himself is concerned I have no wish to see +him punished simply because he has been worldly and vainglorious. +You thought him able in a business way, and liked to meet him. But +as for her, Flossy, his wife," Selma continued, with a gasp, "it +would be sheer hypocrisy for me to assert that I am sorry for her. +I should deem myself unworthy of being considered an earnest-minded +American woman if I did not maintain that this disgrace which has +befallen them is the logical and legitimate consequence of their +godless lives—especially of her frivolity and presumptuous +indifference to spiritual influences. That woman, James, is utterly +hostile to the things of the spirit. You have no conception—I +have never told you, because he was your friend, and I was willing +to let bygones be bygones on the surface on your account—you +have no conception of the cross her behavior became to me in New +York. From almost the first moment we met I saw that we were far +apart as the poles in our views of the responsibilities of life. +She sneered at everything which you and I reverence, and she set +her face against true progress and the spread of American +principles. She claimed to be my friend, and to sympathize with my +zeal for social truth, yet all the time she was toadying secretly +the people whose luxurious exclusiveness made me tremble sometimes +for the future of our country. She and her husband were prosperous, +and everything he touched seemed to turn to gold. It may sound +irreverent, James, but there was a time during my life in New York +when I was discouraged; when it seemed as though heaven were +mocking me and my husband in our homely struggle against the forces +of evil, and bestowing all its favors on a woman whose example was +a menace to American womanhood! Sorry? Why should I be sorry to see +justice triumph and shallow iniquity rebuked? I would give Florence +Williams money if she is in want, but I am thankful, very thankful, +that her heartless vanity has found its proper reward."</p> +<p>Lyons fingered his beard. "I didn't know she was as bad as that, +Selma. Now that they have come to grief, we are not likely to be +brought in contact with them, and in all probability they will pass +out of our lives. Williams was smart and entertaining, but I never +liked his taking advantage of the circumstances of my having an +account in his office to urge me to support a measure at variance +with my political convictions."</p> +<p>"Precisely. The trouble with them both, James, is that they have +no conscience; and it is eminently just they should be made to +realize that people who lack conscience cannot prosper in this +country in the long run. 'They have loosed the awful lightnings of +his terrible swift sword.'"</p> +<p>"I say 'amen' to that assuredly, Selma," Lyons answered. His +predilection to palliate equivocal circumstances was never proof +against clear, evidence of moral delinquency. When his religious +scruples were finally offended, he was grave and unrelenting.</p> +<p>The downfall of the Williamses continued to be a sweet solace +and source of encouragement to Selma. It made her, when taken in +conjunction with her own recent progress, feel that the whirligig +of time was working in her behalf after all; and that if she +persevered, not merely Flossy, but all those who worshipped mammon, +and consequently failed to recognize her talents, would be made to +bite the dust. At the moment these enemies seemed to have infested +Benham. Numerically speaking, they were unimportant, but they had +established an irritating, irregular skirmish line, one end of +which occupied Wetmore College, another held secret midnight +meetings at Mrs. Hallett Taylor's. Rumors of various undertakings, +educational, semi-political, artistic, or philanthropic, agitated +or directed by this fringe of society, came to her ears from time +to time, but she heard them as an outsider. When she became the +Governor's wife she had said to herself that now these aristocrats +would be compelled to admit her to their counsels. But she found, +to her annoyance, that the election made no difference. Neither +Pauline nor Mrs. Taylor nor any of the coterie had asked her to +join them, and she was unpleasantly conscious that there were +people on the River Drive who showed no more desire to make her +acquaintance than when she had been Mrs. Lewis Babcock. What did +this mean? It meant simply—she began to argue—that she +must hold fast to her faith and bide her time. That if she and her +friends kept a bold front and resisted the encroachments of this +pernicious spirit, Providence would interfere presently and +confound these enemies of social truth no less obviously than it +had already overwhelmed Mrs. Gregory Williams. As the wife of the +Governor, she was clearly in a position to maintain this bold front +effectively. Every mail brought to her requests for her support, +and the sanction of her signature to social or charitable +enterprises. Her hospital was flourishing along the lines of the +policy which she had indicated, and was feeling the advantage of +her political prosperity. She was able to give the petition in +behalf of Mrs. Hamilton, which contained now twenty-five thousand +signatures, fresh value and solemnity by means of an autograph +letter from the Governor's wife, countersigned by the Governor. +This, with the bulky list of petitioners, she addressed and +despatched directly to Queen Victoria. Her presence was in constant +demand at all sorts of functions, at many of which she had the +opportunity to make a few remarks; to express the welcome of the +State, or to utter words of sympathy and encouragement to those +assembled. In the second month of her husband's administration, she +had the satisfaction of greeting, in her double capacity as +newly-elected President of the Benham Institute and wife of the +Governor, the Federation of Women's Clubs of the United States, on +the occasion of its annual meeting at Benham. This federation was +the incorporated fruit of the Congress of Women's Clubs, which +Selma had attended as a delegate just previous to her divorce from +Babcock, and she could not refrain from some exultation at the +progress she had made since then as she sat wielding the gavel over +the body of women delegates from every State in the Union. The +meeting lasted three days. Literary exercises alternated with +excursions to points of interest in the neighborhood, at all of +which she was in authority, and the celebration was brought to a +brilliant close by a banquet, to which men were invited. At this +Selma acted as toastmaster, introducing the speakers of the +occasion, which included her own husband. Lyons made a graceful +allusion to her stimulating influence as a helpmate and her +executive capacity, which elicited loud applause. Succeeding this +meeting of the Federation of Women's Clubs came a series of +semi-public festivities under the patronage of +women—philanthropic, literary or social in +character—for the fever to perpetuate in club form every +congregation, of free-born citizens, except on election day, had +seized Benham in common with the other cities of the country in its +grasp, to each of which the Governor's wife was invited as the +principal guest of honor. Selma thus found a dozen opportunities to +exhibit herself to a large audience and testify to her faith in +democratic institutions.</p> +<p>On the 22d of February, Washington's birthday, she held a +reception at their house on River Drive, for which cards had been +issued a fortnight previous. She pathetically explained to the +reporters that, had the dimensions and resources of her +establishment permitted, she and the Governor would simply have +announced themselves at home to the community at large; that they +would have preferred this, but of course it would never do. The +people would not be pleased to see a rabble confound the +hospitality of the chief magistrate and his wife. The people +demanded proper dignity from their representatives in office. The +list of invitations which Selma sent out was, however, +comprehensive. She aimed to invite everyone of social, public, +commercial or political importance. A full band was in attendance, +and a liberal collation was served. Selma confided to some of her +guests, who, she thought, might criticise the absence of wine, that +she had felt obliged, out of consideration for her husband's +political prospects, to avoid wounding the feelings of total +abstainers. The entertainment lasted from four to seven, and the +three hours of hand-shaking provided a delicious experience to the +hostess. She gloried in the consciousness that this crush of +citizens, representing the leaders of the community in the widest +sense, had been assembled by her social gift, and that they had +come to offer their admiring homage to the clever wife of their +Governor. It gratified her to think that Pauline and Mrs. Taylor +and the people of that class, to all of whom she had sent cards, +should behold her as the first lady of the State, and mistress of a +beautiful home, dispensing hospitality on broad, democratic lines +to an admiring constituency. When Mr. Horace Elton approached, +Selma perpetrated a little device which she had planned. As they +were in the act of shaking hands a very handsome rose +fell—seemingly by chance—from the bouquet which she +carried. He picked it up and tendered it to her, but Selma made him +keep it, adding in a lower tone, "It is your due for the gallant +friendship you have shown me and my husband." She felt as though +she were a queen bestowing a guerdon on a favorite minister, and +yet a woman rewarding in a woman's way an admirer's devotion. She +meant Elton to appreciate that she understood that his interest in +Lyons was largely due to his partiality for her. It seemed to her +that she could recognize to this extent his chivalrous conduct +without smirching her blameless record as an American +housewife.</p> +<p>Meantime the Governor was performing his public duties with +becoming dignity and without much mental friction. The legislature +was engaged in digesting the batch of miscellaneous business +presented for its consideration, among which was Elton's gas +consolidation bill. Already the measure had encountered some +opposition in committee, but Lyons was led to believe that the bill +would be passed by a large majority, and that its opponents would +be conciliated before his signature was required. Lyons's +reputation as an orator had been extended by his term in the House +of Representatives and his recent active campaign, and he was in +receipt of a number of invitations from various parts of the +country to address august bodies in other States. All of these were +declined, but when, in the month of April, opportunity was afforded +him to deliver a speech on patriotic issues on the anniversary of +the battle of Lexington, he decided, with Selma's approval, to +accept the invitation. He reasoned that a short respite from the +cares of office would be agreeable; she was attracted by the +glamour of revisiting New York as a woman of note. New York had +refused to recognize her superiority and to do her homage, and New +York should realize her present status, and what a mistake had been +made. The speech was a success, and the programme provided for the +entertainment of the orator and his wife included the hospitality +of several private houses. Selma felt that she could afford to hold +her head high and not to thaw too readily for the benefit of a +society which had failed to appreciate her worth when it had the +chance. She was the wife now of one of the leading public men of +the nation, and in a position to set fashions, not to ask favors. +Nevertheless she chose on the evening before their return to Benham +to show herself at dinner at Delmonico's, just to let the world of +so-called fashion perceive her and ask who she was. There would +doubtless be people there who knew her by sight, and who, when they +were told that she was now the wife of Governor Lyons, would regret +if not be ashamed of their short-sightedness and snobbery. She wore +a striking dress; she encouraged her husband's willingness to order +an elaborate dinner, including champagne (for they were in a +champagne country), and she exhibited a sprightly mood, looking +about her with a knowing air in observation of the other occupants +of the dining-room.</p> +<p>While she was thus engaged the entrance of a party of six, whom +the head waiter conducted with a show of attention to a table which +had evidently been reserved for them, fettered Selma's attention. +She stared unable to believe her eyes, then flushed and looked +indignant. Her attention remained rivetted on this party while they +laid aside their wraps and seated themselves. Struck by the annoyed +intensity of his wife's expression, Lyons turned to follow the +direction of her gaze.</p> +<p>"What is the matter?" he said.</p> +<p>For a few moments Selma sat silent with compressed lips, intent +on her scrutiny.</p> +<p>"It's an outrage on decency," she murmured, at last. "How dare +she show herself here and entertain those people?"</p> +<p>"Of whom are you talking, Selma?"</p> +<p>"The Williamses. Flossy Williams and her husband. The two +couples with them live on Fifth Avenue, and used to be among her +exclusive friends. Her husband has just ordered the dinner. I saw +him give the directions to the waiter. It is monstrous that they, +who only a few months ago failed disgracefully and were supposed to +have lost everything, should be going on exactly as if nothing had +happened."</p> +<p>"People in New York have the faculty of getting on their feet +again quickly after financial reverses," said Lyons, mildly. "Like +as not some of Williams's friends have enabled him to make a fresh +start."</p> +<p>"So it seems," Selma answered, sternly. She sat back in her +chair with a discouraged air and neglected her truffled chicken. +"It isn't right; it isn't decent."</p> +<p>Lyons was puzzled by her demeanor. "Why should you care what +they do?" he asked. "We can easily avoid them for the future."</p> +<p>"Because—because, James Lyons, I can't bear to see godless +people triumph. Because it offends me to see a man and woman, who +are practically penniless through their own evil courses, and +should be discredited everywhere, able to resume their life of +vanity and extravagance without protest."</p> +<p>While she was speaking Selma suddenly became aware that her eyes +had met those of Dr. George Page, who was passing their table on +his way out. Recognition on both sides came at the same moment, and +Selma turned in her chair to greet him, cutting off any hope which +he may have had of passing unobserved. She was glad of the +opportunity to show the company that she was on familiar terms with +a man so well known, and she had on her tongue what she regarded as +a piece of banter quite in keeping with his usual vein.</p> +<p>"How d'y do, Dr. Page? We haven't met for a long time. You do +not know my husband, Governor Lyons, I think. Dr. Page used to be +our family physician when I lived in New York, James. Everyone here +knows that he has a very large practice."</p> +<p>Selma was disposed to be gracious and sprightly, for she felt +that Dr. Page must surely be impressed by her appearance of +prosperity.</p> +<p>"I had heard of your marriage, and of your husband's election. I +congratulate you. You are living in Benham, I believe, far from +this hurly-burly?"</p> +<p>"Yes, a little bird told me the other day that a no less +distinguished person than Dr. Page had been seen in Benham twice +during the last three months. Of course a Governor's wife is +supposed to know everything which goes on, and for certain reasons +I was very much interested to hear this bit of news. I am a very +discreet woman, doctor. It shall go no further."</p> +<p>The physician's broad brow contracted slightly, but his habitual +self-control concealed completely the inclination to strangle his +bright-eyed, over-dressed inquisitor. He was the last man to shirk +the vicissitudes of playful speech, and he preferred this mood of +Selma's to her solemn style, although his privacy was invaded.</p> +<p>"I should have remembered," he said, "that there is nothing in +the world which Mrs. Lyons does not know by intuition."</p> +<p>"Including the management of a hospital, Dr. Page. Perhaps you +don't know that I am the managing trustee of a large hospital?"</p> +<p>"Yes, I was informed of that in Benham. I should scarcely +venture to tell you what my little bird said. It was an old fogy of +a bird, with a partiality for thorough investigation and scientific +methods, and a thorough distrust of the results of off-hand +inspiration in the treatment of disease."</p> +<p>"I dare say. But we are succeeding splendidly. The next time you +come to Benham you must come to see me, and I will take you over +our hospital. I don't despair yet of converting you to our side, +just as you evidently don't despair of inducing a certain lady some +day to change her mind. I, for one, think that she is more fitted +by nature to be a wife than a college president, so I shall await +with interest more news from my little bird." Selma felt that she +was talking to greater advantage than almost ever before. Her last +remark banished every trace of a smile from her adversary's face, +and he stood regarding her with a preternatural gravity, which +should have been appalling, but which she welcomed as a sign of +serious feeling on his part. She felt, too, that at last she had +got the better of the ironical doctor in repartee, and that he was +taking his leave tongue-tied. In truth, he was so angry that he did +not trust himself to speak. He simply glared and departed.</p> +<p>"Poor fellow," she said, by way of explanation to Lyons, "I +suppose his emotion got the better of him, because he has loved her +so long. That was the Dr. Page who has been crazy for years to +marry Pauline Littleton. When he was young he married a woman of +doubtful character, who ran away from him. I used to think that +Pauline was right in refusing to sacrifice her life for his sake. +But he has been very constant, and I doubt if she has originality +enough to keep her position as president of Wetmore long. He +belongs to the old school of medicine. It was he who took care of +Wilbur when he died. I fancy that case may have taught him not to +mistrust truth merely because it isn't labelled. But I bear him no +malice, because I know he meant to do his best. They are just +suited for each other, and I shall be on his side after this."</p> +<p>The interest of this episode served to restore somewhat Selma's +serenity, but she kept her attention fixed on the table where the +Williamses were sitting, observing with a sense of injury their gay +behavior. To all appearances, Flossy was as light-hearted and +volatile as ever. Her attire was in the height of fashion. Had +adversity taught her nothing? Had the buffet of Providence failed +utterly to sober her frivolous spirit? It seemed to Selma that +there could be no other conclusion, and though she and Lyons had +finished dinner, she was unable to take her eyes off the culprits, +or to cease to wonder how it was possible for people with nothing +to continue to live as though they had everything. Her moral nature +was stirred to resentment, and she sat spell-bound, seeking in vain +for a point of consolation.</p> +<p>Meantime Lyons, like a good American, had sent for an evening +paper, and was deep in its perusal. A startled ejaculation from him +aroused Selma from her nightmare. Her husband was saying to her +across the table:</p> +<p>"My dear, Senator Calkins is dead." He spoke in a solemn, +excited whisper.</p> +<p>"Our Senator Calkins?"</p> +<p>"Yes. This is the despatch from Washington: 'United States +Senator Calkins dropped dead suddenly in the lobby of the Senate +chamber, at ten o'clock this morning, while talking with friends. +His age was 52. The cause of his death was heart-failure. His +decease has cast a gloom over the Capital, and the Senate adjourned +promptly out of respect to the memory of the departed +statesman.'"</p> +<p>"What a dreadful thing!" Selma murmured.</p> +<p>"The ways of Providence are inscrutable," said Lyons. "No one +could have foreseen this public calamity." He poured out a glass of +ice-water and drank it feverishly.</p> +<p>"It's fortunate we have everything arranged to return to-morrow, +for of course you will be needed at home."</p> +<p>"Yes. Waiter, bring me a telegram."</p> +<p>"What are you going to do?"</p> +<p>"Communicate to Mrs. Calkins our sympathy on account of the +death of her distinguished husband."</p> +<p>"That will be nice," said Selma. She sat for some moments in +silence observing her husband, and spell-bound by the splendid +possibility which presented itself. She knew that Lyons's gravity +and agitation were not wholly due to the shock of the catastrophe. +He, like herself, must be conscious that he might become the dead +Senator's successor. He poured out and drained another goblet of +ice-water. Twice he drew himself up slightly and looked around the +room, with the expression habitual to him when about to deliver a +public address. Selma's veins were tingling with excitement. +Providence had interfered in her behalf again. As the wife of a +United States Senator, everything would be within her grasp.</p> +<p>"James," she said, "we are the last persons in the world to fail +in respect to the illustrious dead, but—of course you ought +to have Senator Calkins's place."</p> +<p>Lyons looked at his wife, and his large lips trembled. "If the +people of my State, Selma, feel that I am the most suitable man for +the vacant senatorship, I shall be proud to serve them."</p> +<p>Selma nodded appreciatively. She was glad that her husband +should approach the situation with a solemn sense of +responsibility.</p> +<p>"They are sure to feel that," she said. "It seems to me that you +are practically certain of the party nomination, and your party has +a clear majority of both branches of the Legislature."</p> +<p>Lyons glanced furtively about him before he spoke. "I don't see +at the moment, Selma, how they can defeat me."</p> +<h3>CHAPTER X.</h3> +<p>The body of Senator Calkins was laid to rest with appropriate +ceremonies in the soil of his native State, and his virtues as a +statesman and citizen were celebrated in the pulpit and in the +public prints. On the day following the funeral the contest for his +place began in dead earnest. There had been some quiet canvassing +by the several candidates while the remains were being transported +from Washington, but public utterance was stayed until the last +rites were over. Then it transpired that there were four candidates +in the field; a Congressman, an ex-Governor, a silver-tongued +orator named Stringer, who was a member of the upper branch of the +State Legislature and who claimed to be a true defender of popular +rights, and Hon. James O. Lyons. Newspaper comment concerning the +candidacy of these aspirants early promulgated the doctrine that +Governor Lyons was entitled to the place if he desired it. More +than one party organ claimed that his brilliant services had given +him a reputation beyond the limit of mere political prestige, and +that he had become a veritable favorite son of the State. By the +end of a fortnight the ex-Governor had withdrawn in favor of Lyons; +while the following of the Congressman was recognized to be +inconsiderable, and that he was holding out in order to obtain +terms. Only the silver-tongued orator, Stringer, remained. On him +the opposition within the party had decided to unite their forces. +To all appearances they were in a decided minority. There was no +hope that the Republican members of the Legislature would join +them, for it seemed scarcely good politics to rally to the support +of a citizen whose statesmanship had not been tested in preference +to the Governor of the State. It was conceded by all but the +immediate followers of Stringer that Lyons would receive the +majority vote of either house, and be triumphantly elected on the +first joint ballot.</p> +<p>And yet the opposition to the Governor, though numerically +small, was genuine. Stringer was, as he described himself, a man of +the plain people. That is he was a lawyer with a denunciating +voice, a keen mind, and a comprehensive grasp on language, who was +still an attorney for plaintiffs, and whose ability had not yet +been recognized by corporations or conservative souls. He was where +Lyons had been ten years before, but he had neither the urbanity, +conciliatory tendencies, nor dignified, solid physical properties +of the Governor. He was pleased to refer to himself as a tribune of +the people, and his thin, nervous figure, clad in a long +frock-coat, with a yawning collar and black whisp tie, his fiery +utterance and relentless zeal, bore out the character. He looked +hungry, and his words suggested that he was in earnest, carrying +conviction to some of his colleagues in the Legislature. The +election at which Lyons had been chosen chief magistrate had +brought into this State government a sprinkling of socialistic +spirits, as they were called, who applauded vigorously the thinly +veiled allusions which Stringer made in debate to the lukewarm +democracy of some of the party leaders. When he spoke with stern +contempt of those who played fast and loose with sacred +principles—who were staunch friends of the humblest citizens +on the public platform, and behind their backs grew slyly rich on +the revenues of wealthy corporations, everyone knew that he was +baiting the Governor. These diatribes were stigmatized as in +wretched taste, but the politicians of both parties could not help +being amused. They admitted behind their hands that the taunt was +not altogether groundless, and that Lyons certainly was on +extremely pleasant terms with prosperity for an out and out +champion of popular rights. Nevertheless the leading party +newspapers termed Stringer a demagogue, and accused him of +endeavoring to foment discord in the ranks of the Democracy by +questioning the loyalty of a man who had led them to notable +victory twice in the last three years. He was invited to step down, +and to season his aspirations until he could present a more +significant public record. What had he done that entitled him to +the senatorship? He had gifts undeniably, but he was young and +could wait. This was a taking argument with the legislators, many +of whom had grown gray in the party service, and Lyons's managers +felt confident that the support accorded to this tribune of the +people would dwindle to very small proportions when the time came +to count noses.</p> +<p>Suddenly there loomed into sight on the political horizon, and +came bearing down on Lyons under full sail, Elton's bill for the +consolidation of the gas companies. The Benham <i>Sentinel</i> had +not been one of the promoters of Lyons's senatorial canvass, but it +had not espoused the cause of any of his competitors, and latterly +had referred in acquiescent terms to his election as a foregone +conclusion. He had not happened to run across Elton during these +intervening weeks, and preferred not to encounter him. He cherished +an ostrich-like hope that Elton was in no haste regarding the bill, +and that consequently it might not pass the legislature until after +his election as Senator. If he were to come in contact with Elton, +the meeting might jog the busy magnate's memory. It was a barren +hope. Immediately after the <i>Sentinel</i> announced that Governor +Lyons was practically sure to be the next United States Senator, +the gas bill was reported favorably by the committee which had it +in charge, and was advanced rapidly in the House. Debate on its +provisions developed that it was not to have entirely plain +sailing, though the majority recorded in its favor on the first and +second readings was large. It was not at first regarded as a party +measure. Its supporters included most of the Republicans and more +than half of the Democrats. Yet the opposition to it proceeded from +the wing of the Democracy with which Stringer was affiliated. +Elton's interest in the bill was well understood, and the work of +pledging members in advance, irrespective of party, had been so +thoroughly done, that but for the exigencies of the senatorial +contest it would probably have slipped through without notice as a +harmless measure. As it was, the opposition to it in the lower +branch was brief and seemed unimportant. The bill passed the House +of Representatives by a nearly two-thirds vote and went promptly to +the Senate calendar. Then suddenly it became obvious to Lyons not +merely that Elton was bent on securing its passage while the +present Governor was in office, but that his rival, Stringer, had +conceived the cruel scheme of putting him in the position, by a hue +and cry against monopoly and corporate interests, where his +election to the senatorship would be imperilled if he did not veto +the measure. By a caustic speech in the Senate Stringer drew public +attention to the skilfully concealed iniquities of the proposed +franchise, and public attention thus aroused began to bristle. +Newspapers here and there throughout the state put forth edicts +that this Legislature had been chosen to protect popular +principles, and that here was an opportunity for the Democratic +party to fulfil its pledges and serve the people. Stringer and his +associates were uttering in the Senate burning words against the +audacious menace of what they termed the franchise octopus. Did the +people realize that this bill to combine gas companies, which +looked so innocent on its face, was a gigantic scheme to wheedle +them out of a valuable franchise for nothing? Did they understand +that they were deliberately putting their necks in the grip of a +monster whose tentacles would squeeze and suck their life-blood for +its own enrichment? Stringer hammered away with fierce and +reiterated invective. He had no hope of defeating the bill, but he +confidently believed that he was putting his adversary, the +Governor, in a hole. It had been noised about the lobbies by the +friends of the measure earlier in the session that the Governor was +all right and could be counted on. Stringer reasoned that Lyons was +committed to the bill; that, if he signed it, his opponents might +prevent his election as Senator on the plea that he had catered to +corporate interests; that if he vetoed it, he would lose the +support of powerful friends who might seek to revenge themselves by +uniting on his opponent. Stringer recognized that he was playing a +desperate game, but it was his only chance. One thing was evident +already: As a result of the exposure in the Senate, considerable +public hostility to the bill was manifesting itself. Petitions for +its defeat were in circulation, and several Senators who had been +supposed to be friendly to its passage veered round in deference to +the views of their constituents. Its defeat had almost become a +party measure. A majority of the Democrats in the Senate were +claimed to be against it. Nevertheless there was no delay on the +part of those in charge in pushing it to final action. They had +counted noses, and their margin of support had been so liberal they +could afford to lose a few deserters. After a fierce debate the +bill was passed to be engrossed by a majority of eleven. The +Democrats in the Senate were just evenly divided on the ballot.</p> +<p>What would the Governor do? This was the question on everyone's +lips. Would he sign or veto the bill? Public opinion as represented +by the newspapers was prompt to point out his duty. The verdict of +a leading party organ was that, in view of all the circumstances, +Governor Lyons could scarcely do otherwise than refuse to give his +official sanction to a measure which threatened to increase the +burdens of the plain people. The words "in view of all the +circumstances" appeared to be an euphemism for "in view of his +ambition to become United States Senator." Several journals +declared unequivocally that it would become the duty of the party +to withdraw its support from Governor Lyons in case he allowed this +undemocratic measure to become law. On the other hand, certain +party organs questioned the justice of the outcry against the bill, +arguing that the merits of the case had been carefully examined in +the Legislature and that there was no occasion for the Governor to +disturb the result of its action. On the day after the bill was +sent to the chief magistrate, an editorial appeared in the Benham +<i>Sentinel</i> presenting an exhaustive analysis of its +provisions, and pointing out that, though the petitioners might +under certain contingencies reap a reasonable profit, the public +could not fail in that event to secure a lower price for gas and +more effective service. This article was quoted extensively +throughout the State, and was ridiculed or extolled according to +the sympathies of the critics. Lyons received a marked copy of the +<i>Sentinel</i> on the morning when it appeared. He recognized the +argument as that which he had accepted at the time he promised to +sign the bill if he were elected Governor. In the course of the +same day a letter sent by messenger was handed to him in the +executive chamber. It contained simply two lines in pencil in +Elton's handwriting—"It continues to be of vital importance +to my affairs that the pending bill should receive your signature." +That was obviously a polite reminder of their agreement; an +intimation that the circumstances had not altered, and that it was +incumbent on him to perform his part of their compact. Obviously, +too, Horace Elton took for granted that a reminder was enough, and +that he would keep his word. He had promised to sign the bill. He +had given his word of honor to do so, and Elton was relying on his +good faith.</p> +<p>The situation had become suddenly oppressive and disheartening. +Just when his prospects seemed assured this unfortunate obstacle +had appeared in his path, and threatened to confound his political +career. He must sign the bill. And if he signed it, in all +probability he would lose the senatorship. His enemies would claim +that the party could not afford to stultify itself by the choice of +a candidate who favored monopolies. He had given his promise, the +word of a man of honor, and a business man. What escape was there +from the predicament? If he vetoed the bill, would he not be a liar +and a poltroon? If he signed it, the senatorship would slip through +his fingers. The thought occurred to him to send for Elton and +throw himself on his mercy, but he shrank from such an interview. +Elton was a business man, and a promise was a promise. He had +enjoyed the consideration for his promise; his notes were secure +and the hypothecated bonds had been redeemed. He was on his feet +and Governor, thanks to Elton's interposition, and now he was +called on to do his part—to pay the fiddler. He must sign the +bill.</p> +<p>Lyons had five days in which to consider the matter. At the end +of that time if he neither signed nor vetoed the bill, it would +become law without his signature. He was at bay, and the time for +deliberation was short. An incubus of disappointment weighed upon +his soul and clouded his brow. His round, smooth face looked +grieved. It seemed cruel to him that such an untoward piece of +fortune should confront him just at the moment when this great +reward for his political services was within his grasp and his +opportunities for eminent public usefulness assured. He brooded +over his quandary in silence for twenty-four hours. On the second +day he concluded to speak of the matter to Selma. He knew that she +kept a general run of public affairs. Not infrequently she had +asked him questions concerning measures before the Legislature, and +he was pleasantly aware that she was ambitious to be regarded as a +politician. But up to this time there had been no room for question +as to what his action as Governor should be in respect to any +measure. It had happened, despite his attitude of mental +comradeship with his wife, that he had hitherto concealed from her +his most secret transactions. He had left her in the dark in regard +to his true dealings with Williams & Van Horne; he had told her +nothing as to his straitened circumstances, the compact by which he +had been made Governor, and his relief at the hands of Elton from +threatened financial ruin. Reluctance, born of the theory in his +soul that these were accidents in his life, not typical happenings, +had sealed his lips. He was going to confide in her now not because +he expected that Selma's view of this emergency would differ from +his own, but in order that she might learn before he acted that he +was under an imperative obligation to sign the bill. While he was +sitting at home in the evening with the topic trembling on his +tongue, Selma made his confession easy by saying, "I have taken for +granted that you will veto the gas bill."</p> +<p>Selma had indeed so assumed. In the early stages of the bill she +had been ignorant of its existence. During the last fortnight, +since the controversy had reached an acute phase and public +sentiment had been aroused against its passage, she had been hoping +that it would pass so that Lyons might have the glory of returning +it to the Legislature without his signature. She had reasoned that +he would be certain to veto the measure, for the bill was clearly +in the interest of monopoly, and though her nerves were all on edge +with excitement over the impending election of a Senator, she had +not interfered because she took for granted that it was +unnecessary. Even when Lyons, after reading the article in the +<i>Sentinel</i>, had dropped the remark that the measure was really +harmless and the outcry against it unwarranted, she had supposed +that he was merely seeking to be magnanimous. She had forgotten +this speech until it was recalled by Lyons's obvious state of worry +during the last few days. She had noticed this at first without +special concern, believing it due to the malicious insinuations of +Stringer. Now that the bill was before him for signature there +could be no question as to his action. Nevertheless her heart had +suddenly been assailed by a horrible doubt, and straightway her +sense of duty as a wife and of duty to herself had sought assurance +in a crucial inquiry.</p> +<p>"I was going to speak to you about that this evening. I wish to +tell you the reasons which oblige me to sign the bill," he +answered. Lyons's manner was subdued and limp. Even his phraseology +had been stripped of its stateliness.</p> +<p>"Sign the bill?" gasped Selma. "If you sign it, you will lose +the senatorship." She spoke like a prophetess, and her steely eyes +snapped.</p> +<p>"That is liable to be the consequence I know. I will explain to +you, Selma. You will see that I am bound in honor and cannot help +myself."</p> +<p>"In honor? You are bound in honor to your party—bound in +honor to me to veto it."</p> +<p>"Wait a minute, Selma. You must hear my reasons. Before I was +nominated for Governor I gave Horace Elton my word, man to man, +that I would sign this gas bill. It is his bill. I promised, if I +were elected Governor, not to veto it. At the time, I—I was +financially embarrassed. I did not tell you because I was unwilling +to distress you, but—er—my affairs in New York were in +disorder, and I had notes here coming due. Nothing was said about +money matters between Elton and me until he had agreed to support +me as Governor. Then he offered to help me, and I accepted his aid. +Don't you see that I cannot help myself? That I must sign the +bill?"</p> +<p>Selma had listened in amazement. "It's a trap," she murmured. +"Horace Elton has led you into a trap." The thought that Elton's +politeness to her was a blind, and that she had been made sport of, +took precedence in her resentment even of the annoyance caused her +by her husband's deceit.</p> +<p>"Why did you conceal all this from me?" she asked, +tragically.</p> +<p>"I should not have done so, perhaps."</p> +<p>"If you had told me, this difficulty never would have arisen. +Pshaw! It is not a real difficulty. Surely you must throw Elton +over. Surely you must veto the bill."</p> +<p>"Throw him over," stammered Lyons. "You don't understand, Selma. +I gave my word as a business man. I am under great obligations to +him." He told briefly the details of the transaction; even the +hypothecation of the Parsons bonds. For once in his life he made a +clean breast of his bosom's perilous stuff. He was ready to bear +the consequences of his plight rather than be false to his man's +standard of honor, and yet his wife's opposition had fascinated as +well as startled him. He set forth his case—the case which +meant his political checkmate, then waited. Selma had risen and +stood with folded arms gazing into distance with the far away look +by which she was wont to subdue mountains.</p> +<p>"Have you finished?" she asked. "What you are proposing to do is +to sacrifice your life—and my life, James Lyons, for the sake +of a—er—fetish. Horace Elton, under the pretence of +friendship for us, has taken advantage of your necessities to +extract from you a promise to support an evil scheme—a bill +to defraud the plain American people of their rights—the +people whose interests you swore to protect when you took the oath +as Governor. Is a promise between man and man, as you call it, more +sacred than everlasting truth itself? More binding than the tie of +principle and political good faith? Will you refuse to veto a bill +which you know is a blow at liberty in order to keep a technical +business compact with an over-reaching capitalist, who has no +sympathy with our ideas? I am disappointed in you, James. I thought +you could see clearer than that."</p> +<p>Lyons sighed. "I examined the bill at the time with some care, +and did not think it inimical to the best public interest; but had +I foreseen the objections which would be raised against it, I admit +that I never would have agreed to sign it."</p> +<p>"Precisely. You were taken in." She meant in her heart that they +had both been taken in. "This is not a case of commercial give and +take—of purchase and sale of stocks or merchandise. The +eternal verities are concerned. You owe it to your country to break +your word. The triumph of American principles is paramount to your +obligation to Elton. Whom will this gas bill benefit but the +promoters? Your view, James, is the old-fashioned view. Just as I +said to you the other day that Dr. Page is old-fashioned in his +views of medicine, so it seems to me, if you will forgive my saying +so, you are, in this instance, behind the times. And you are not +usually behind the times. It has been one of the joyous features of +my marriage with you that you have not lacked American initiative +and independence of conventions. I wish you had confided in me. You +were forced to give that promise by your financial distress. Will +you let an old-fashioned theory of private honor make you a traitor +to our party cause and to the sovereign people of our country?"</p> +<p>Lyons bowed his head between his hands. "You make me see that +there are two sides to the question, Selma. It is true that I was +not myself when Elton got my promise to sign the bill. My mind had +been on the rack for weeks, and I was unfit to form a correct +estimate of a complicated public measure. But a promise is a +promise."</p> +<p>"What can he do if you break it? He will not kill you."</p> +<p>"He will not kill me, no; but he will despise me." Lyons +reflected, as he spoke, that Elton would be unable to injure him +financially. He would, be able to pay his notes when they became +due, thanks to the improvement in business affairs which had set in +since the beginning of the year.</p> +<p>"And your party—the American people will despise you if +you sign the bill. Whose contempt do you fear the most?"</p> +<p>"I see—I see," he murmured. "I cannot deny there is much +force in your argument, dear. I fear there can be no doubt that if +I let the bill become law, public clamor will oblige the party to +throw me over and take up Stringer or some dark horse. That means a +serious setback to my political progress; means perhaps my +political ruin."</p> +<p>"Your political suicide, James. And there is another side to +it," continued Selma, pathetically. "My side. I wish you to think +of that. I wish you to realize that, if you yield to this false +notion of honor, you will interfere with the development of my life +no less than your own. As you know, I think, I became your wife +because I felt that as a public woman working, at your side in +behalf of the high purposes in which we had a common sympathy, I +should be a greater power for good than if I pursued alone my +career as a writer and on the lecture platform. Until to-day I have +felt sure that I had made no mistake—that we had made no +mistake. Without disrespect to the dead, I may say that for the +first time in my life marriage has meant to me what it should mean, +and has tended to bring out the best which is in me. I have grown; +I have developed; I have been recognized. We have both made +progress. Only a few days ago I was rejoicing to think that when +you became a United States Senator, there would be a noble field +for my abilities as well as yours. We are called to high office, +called to battle for great principles and to lead the nation to +worthy things. And now, in a moment of mental blindness, you are +threatening to spoil all. For my sake, if not for your own, James, +be convinced that you do not see clearly. Do not snatch the cup of +happiness from my lips just as at last it is full. Give me the +chance to live my own life as I wish to live it."</p> +<p>There was a brief silence. Lyons rose and let fall his hand on +the table with impressive emphasis. His mobile face was working +with emotion; his eyes were filled with tears. "I will veto the +bill," he said, grandiloquently. "The claims of private honor must +give way to the general welfare, and the demands of civilization. +You have convinced me, Selma—my wife. My point of view was +old-fashioned. Superior ethics permit no other solution of the +problem. Superior ethics," he repeated, as though the phrase gave +him comfort, "would not justify a statesman in sacrificing his +party and his own powers—aye, and his political +conscience—in order to keep a private compact. I shall veto +the bill."</p> +<p>"Thank God for that," she murmured.</p> +<p>Lyons stepped forward and put his arm around her. "You shall +live your own life as you desire, Selma. No act of mine shall spoil +it."</p> +<p>"Superior ethics taught you by your wife! Your poor, wise wife +in whom you would not confide!" She tapped him playfully on his fat +cheek. "Naughty boy!"</p> +<p>"There are moments when a man sees through a glass, darkly," he +answered, kissing her again. "This is a solemn decision for us, +Selma. Heaven has willed that you should save me from my own +errors, and my own blindness."</p> +<p>"We shall be very happy, James. You will be chosen Senator, and +all will be as it should be. The clouds on my horizon are one by +one passing away, and justice is prevailing at last. What do you +suppose I heard to-day? Pauline Littleton is to marry Dr. Page. +Mrs. Earle told me so. Pauline has written to the trustees that +after the first of next January she will cease to serve as +president of Wetmore; that by that time the college will be running +smoothly, so that a successor can take up the work. There is a +chance now that the trustees will choose a genuine educator for the +place—some woman of spontaneous impulses and a large outlook +on life. Pauline's place is by the domestic hearth. She could never +have much influence on progress."</p> +<p>"I do not know her very well," said Lyons. "But I know this, +Selma, you would be just the woman for the place if you were not my +wife. You would make an ideal president of a college for +progressive women."</p> +<p>"I am suited for the work, and I think I am progressive," she +admitted. "But that, of course, is out of the question for me as a +married woman and the wife of a United States Senator. But I am +glad, James, to have you appreciate my strong points."</p> +<p>On the following day Lyons vetoed the gas bill. His message to +the Legislature described it as a measure which disposed of a +valuable franchise for nothing, and which would create a monopoly +detrimental to the rights of the public. This action met with much +public approval. One newspaper expressed well the feeling of the +community by declaring that the Governor had faced the issue +squarely and shown the courage of his well-known convictions. The +Benham <i>Sentinel</i> was practically mute. It stated merely in a +short editorial that it was disappointed in Governor Lyons, and +that he had played into the hands of the demagogues and the +sentimentalists. It suggested to the Legislature to show +commendable independence by passing the bill over his veto. But +this was obviously a vain hope.</p> +<p>The vote in the House against the veto not merely fell short of +the requisite two-thirds, but was less than a plurality, showing +that the action of the chief magistrate had reversed the sentiment +of the Legislature. The force of Stringer's opposition was +practically killed by the Governor's course. He had staked +everything on the chance that Lyons would see fit to sign the bill. +When the party caucus for the choice of a candidate for Senator was +held a few days later, his followers recognized the hopelessness of +his ambition and prevailed on him to withdraw his name from +consideration. Lyons was elected Senator of the United States by a +party vote by the two branches of the Legislature assembled in +solemn conclave. Apparently Elton had realized that opposition was +useless, and that he must bide his time for revenge. Booming cannon +celebrated the result of the proceedings, and Selma, waiting at +home on the River Drive, received a telegram from the capital +announcing the glad news. Her husband was United States Senator, +and the future stretched before her big with promise. She had +battled with life, she had suffered, she had held fast to her +principles, and at last she was rewarded.</p> +<p>Lyons returned to Benham by the afternoon train, and a salute of +one hundred guns greeted him on his arrival. He walked from the +station like any private citizen. Frequent cheers attended his +progress to his house. In the evening the shops and public +buildings were illuminated, and the James O. Lyons Cadets, who +considered themselves partly responsible for his rapid promotion, +led a congratulatory crowd to the River Drive. The Senator-elect, +in response to the music of a serenade, stepped out on the balcony. +Selma waited behind the window curtain until the enthusiasm had +subsided; then she glided forth and showed herself at his elbow. A +fresh round of cheers for the Senator's wife followed. It was a +glorious night. The moon shone brightly. The street was thronged by +the populace, and glittered with the torches of the cadets. Lyons +stood bareheaded. His large, round, smooth face glistened, and the +moonbeams, bathing his chin beard, gave him the effect of a +patriarch, or of one inspired. He raised his hand to induce +silence, then stood for a moment, as was his habit before speaking, +with an expression as though he were struggling with emotion or +busy in silent prayer.</p> +<p>"Fellow citizens of Benham," he began, slowly, "compatriots of +the sovereign State which has done me to-day so great an honor, I +thank you for this precious greeting. You are my constituents and +my brothers. I accept from your hands this great trust of office, +knowing that I am but your representative, knowing that my mission +is to bear constant witness to the love of liberty, the love of +progress, the love of truth which are enshrined in the hearts of +the great American people. Your past has been ever glorious; your +future looms big with destiny. Still leaning on the God of our +fathers, to whom our patriot sires have ever turned, and whose +favors to our beloved country are seen in your broad prairies tall +with fruitful grain, and your mighty engines of commerce, I take up +the work which you have given me to do, pledged to remain a +democrat of the democrats, an American of the Americans."</p> +<p>Selma heard the words of this peroration with a sense of +ecstasy. She felt that he was speaking for them both, and that he +was expressing the yearning intention of her soul to attempt and +perform great things. She stood gazing straight before her with her +far away, seraph look, as though she were penetrating the future +even into Paradise.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14645 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |