“So do you, Jennie,” interrupted Kate.
“Well, I’ll show you that this can’t!”
“Didn’t you hear him exulting because
you are now free?” cried Jennie. “He
thinks he will give me a home, the children, a big
income; then secure his freedom and marry you.”
“Oh, don’t talk such rot!” cried
Kate. “John Jardine thinks no such thing.
He wouldn’t insult me by thinking I thought
such a thing. That thought belongs where it
sprang from, right in your little cramped, blonde
brain, Jennie.”
“You wouldn’t? Are you sure you
wouldn’t?” cried Jennie, leaning forward
with hands clutched closely.
“I should say not!” said Kate. “The
last thing on earth I want is some other woman’s
husband. Now look here, Jennie, I’ll tell
you the plain truth. I thought last night that
John Jardine was as free as I was; or I shouldn’t
have been here with him. I thought he was asking
me again to marry him, and I was not asleep last night,
thinking it over. I came here to tell him that
I would not. Does that satisfy you?”
“Satisfy?” cried Jennie. “I
hope no other woman lives in the kind of Hell I do.”
“It’s always the way,” said Kate,
“when people will insist on getting out of their
class. You would have gotten ten times more
from life as the wife of a village merchant, or a farmer,
than you have as the wife of a rich man. Since
you’re married to him, and there are children,
there’s nothing for you to do but finish your
job as best you can. Rest your head easy about
me. I wouldn’t touch John Jardine married
to you; I wouldn’t touch him with a ten-foot
pole, divorced from you. Get that clear in your
head, and do please go!”
Kate turned again to the water, but when she was sure
Jennie was far away she sat down suddenly and asked
of the lake: “Well, wouldn’t that
freeze you?”
Finally Kate wandered back to the hotel and went
to their room to learn if Nancy Ellen was there.
She was and seemed very much perturbed. The
first thing she did was to hand Kate a big white envelope,
which she opened and found to be a few lines from John
Jardine, explaining that he had been unexpectedly called
away on some very important business. He reiterated
his delight in having seen her, and hoped for the
same pleasure at no very distant date. Kate read
it and tossed it on the dresser. As she did so,
she saw a telegram, lying opened among Nancy Ellen’s
toilet articles, and thought with pleasure that Robert
was coming. She glanced at her sister for confirmation,
and saw that she was staring from the window as if
she were in doubt about something. Kate thought
probably she was still upset about John Jardine, and
that might as well be gotten over, so she said:
“That note was not delivered promptly.
It is from John Jardine. I should have had it
before I left. He was called away on important
business and wrote to let me know he would not be
able to keep his appointment; but without his knowledge,
he had a representative on the spot.”
