“Thank heaven for lawyers, I say now. Gracious! I’d never have thought myself of getting something on you, Stephen, but my lawyer has been right onto his job. He’s been down there to New York, and he says that I’ve got as much grounds to do a little naming as you have. So if you want a divorce, Stephen, go ahead and dig up Ed Munn, and I’ll dig up Helen Morrison and we’ll give the public something worth reading. Of course, I, myself, don’t want a divorce. There’s nobody I want to marry. I’d see myself dead rather than tied up to Ed Munn. And I can’t see that it’s any advantage to a woman with a daughter she’s got to bring out in society to be a grass-widow. I’d just rather have you in New York, on business, the way you’ve always been. I’ve taken an apartment in Boston now, and by the time Laurel’s old enough to come out, it may strike me as a good idea to have her father in the background somewheres, when we give her a ball at one of the big hotels. Mr. Hinckly, my lawyer, says you’ll probably want to do about anything I want you to, just so I don’t show up your little affair with that pretty widow down there in New York. My! But I think lawyers are clever. I certainly take off my hat to Mr. Hinckly.”

It was Helen’s sweet voice saying, “You have had a difficult day, Stephen. I’m so sorry,” that called Stephen back to a brief glimpse of heaven again.

He looked at her long and quietly. Then he said, “Helen, I gave you up years ago, because I felt I could bring you nothing but shame. I must give you up again for the same reason.”

Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

1

A NEW VENTURE always acted upon Stella like fresh soil in a garden upon seeds. It brought out renewed effort and vigor. An experiment untried possessed all the possibilities of success. Stella never considered failure until it was demonstrated. Even then she would not accept it as such—invariably searching for some hidden advantage in her various disappointments and rebuffs. Even when she had the daunting situation of a forced exile to face, she kept right on spinning her thread of optimism like a spider rudely ejected from her web, falling dizzily at first, but quickly recovering herself and fastening her slender cable to the first solid support that offered itself.