“Oh, Wayne; there are not many women like that! I always wondered if you would ever really care, and what she would be like; and now this—this——!”
He was not surprised that she knew it all; Fanny always knew everything.
“And to think that when she offered to go back to that vagabond Joe, he wouldn’t have it that way—wouldn’t listen to it! And here she is left high and dry with her preposterous conscience; it’s that wretched Jimmy Paddock that’s responsible. I didn’t suppose I could ever feel that divorce is right in any case; but here were two silly young children eloping. And a girl with this beautiful genius in her, seeing the awfulness of what she had done, fled from it. If Joe hadn’t nearly died of pneumonia and if Jimmy Paddock hadn’t convinced her that marriages are made in heaven and that the courts of Pennsylvania haven’t any jurisdiction over them—well?” she concluded irrelevantly.
“Nothing, Fanny; only the spectacle of the Pennsylvania courts assuming jurisdiction of the heavenly kingdom tickles me. I’m sorry that I can’t talk about Jean—not now. It’s great that she’s struck it, and that must be enough for me, I guess. Good night; I’m going to walk home.”
CHAPTER XXXII
AN ANGRY ENCOUNTER
“I’M LEAVING the office on the first; I’m going down to the mercantile company with Walsh.”
This was the first intimation Wayne had given his father of the proposed change. He had purposely waited until this last hour before making the announcement, to avoid discussing the matter. Colonel Craighill looked up from his desk quickly and compressed his lips before speaking. It was a blow he had not expected and he did not meet it at once. Wayne turned uneasily and as his father made no response he added:
“You remember that I kept my interest there and Tom says I can be of use to him. I am of no use here—and never have been.”
“In other words, you prefer Walsh to me as an ally. Very well, I might have expected it. This is the last irony of my parenthood and it is quite fitting; quite in keeping.”
In the silence following the announcement Wayne’s heart had been tenderer toward his father than in many a day. It was not so easy after all to leave him; at a word he might have relented; but the swords of resentment unsheathed with a sharp clatter and his spirit declared war.