She hurried up the steps without waiting to look at the startled face in the carriage. It had been a hard day, but her nerves were strung to a high pitch that evening, for she foresaw another long debate with her husband. The sooner the final break was made now that Dr. Driver had been taken into their confidence the better.
“John,” Mrs. Wilbur’s eyes glittered as she began, when they were alone in the library, “that was unkind of you, and foolish, to send Dr. Driver here to talk to me.”
“I hoped he could make you see the wicked and unchristian character of the act you are contemplating.” He understood faintly that his scheme had failed; indeed, had driven her further away.
“We must finish now at once,” Mrs. Wilbur continued.
“Have you anything to complain of in your house or in me?” Wilbur asked defiantly. The other evening she might have said in answer something about the traction stocks. But after Jennings had read her soul so easily, she refrained. For one didn’t leave one’s husband because he was callous in business. Was she the kind of woman to shrink from such misfortune? He went on, “You don’t realize the blow you are dealing me and yourself in all the talk your step will make. It will be in the papers twenty-four hours after, that you have run away.”
Now that she had discovered what dread was uppermost, it was easy enough to urge her suit. She had thought over this question and had a plan ready. If he had been unconscious of the possible injury to himself and his ambitions, her task would have been harder.
“I don’t think you need worry about that,” she replied a little disdainfully, “for your friends’ sympathy will be entirely with you, and nobody else need know until later. All I ask is to leave you—it may be said for a few months, as other wives leave their husbands, to travel. The house can go on, and doubtless mother will be glad to remain here and—”
“A nice plan,” Wilbur interrupted hotly, “to make me a blind for your goings-on with another man.”
Mrs. Wilbur flushed quickly, then became white and calm again. “You persist in that insult. Very well, then, you can proceed at once to a divorce. But I think that you will see how much more sensible my plan is. Later you can get a divorce quietly.”
“Would you ever come back?” Wilbur asked wistfully.