“Poor Abbie!” sighed Mamise. “Dream on, if you want to. But I’m going to tell Mr. Davidge to keep a watch on Jake. I’m going to warn him that Jake is probably mixed up in the sinking of that beautiful ship he named after his mother.”
Even Abbie could not miss the frightful meaning of this. She was one of those who never trust experience, one of those who think that, in spite of all the horrible facts of the past, horrible things are impossible in the future. Higher types of the same mind had gone about saying that war was impossible, later insisting that it was impossible that the United States should be dragged into this war because it was so horrible, and next averring that since this war was so horrible there could never be another.
Even Abbie could imagine what would happen if Mamise denounced Jake as an accomplice in the sinking of the Clara. It would be so terrible that it must be impossible. The proof that Jake was innocent was the thought of what would happen to him and to her and their children if he were found guilty. She summed it all up in a phrase:
“Mamise, you’re plumb crazy!”
“I hope so, but I’m also crazy enough to put Mr. Davidge on his guard.”
“And have him fire Jake, or get him arrested?”
“Perhaps.”
“Ain’t you got any sense of decency or dooty a tall?”
“I’m trying to find out.”
“Well, I always knew a woman who’d smoke cigarettes would do anything.”