That Lockwin has the nature she required was to be seen in the death of Davy. An event which would have beclouded the life of common brides came to Esther as an important communication. She saw Lockwin's heart. She saw him kissing the soles of Davy's feet. There is something despotic in her nature which was satisfied in his act. There is also a devotion in her nature which might be as profound.
She would kiss the soles of David Lockwin's feet, were he dead. She could kiss his feet were he despised and rejected among men.
Yet she is counted the haughtiest woman that goes by.
"Mrs. Lockwin is a double-decker," the grocer declares to his head clerk. "She rides mighty high out of the water."
The grocer used to haul lumber from Muskegon. His metaphors smell of the deep.
For ten years young men of all temperaments had besieged this lady. The fame of her money had entranced them. Suitors who were afraid of her distinguished person still paid court, smitten by the love of money.
She was so proud that she must marry a proud man. She must marry a man conspicuous, tall, large, slow. She must banish from her mind that hateful fear of the man who might want her for her financial expectations.
Sometimes when she surveyed the matrimonial field she noted that the eligible suitors were few.
Men with blonde mustaches of extreme length would recite lovers' poems. Men with jet-black hair, eyes and beard would be equally foolish. The lady would listen politely to both.
"It is the Manitoba cold wave!" the lovers would lament as they left her.