Cicily sent word of a severe headache, and did not appear at the
dinner-table that night, nor did she see her husband during the evening.
She retired to her bed-chamber at an early hour, but not to sleep.
Instead, she abandoned herself to torturing reflections on the
malevolent predicament into which she had been brought. She did not
attempt to disguise from herself the hideous fact that her own
precipitancy of action in the matter of the candidates for the club had
been the primary cause of the peril that now beset her husband's
business prosperity by reason of the strike thus induced. She bewailed
the impetuous character of her emotions, which had so evilly led her
into an action fraught with such dire consequences. She had no regret
for the motives that had impelled her, but she was profoundly sorrowful
over the thoughtless haste with which she had entered on a course of
more than doubtful expediency. Her one relief was in a reiteration that
she would, that she must, find some way by which to make amends for the
catastrophe she had so ingenuously engineered. To the discovery of a
method for retrieving her error, she gave her mind with an almost
frenzied concentration; but the effort was fruitless. Cudgel her wearied
brain as she would, it could not make pace to the goal she sought. When,
after a sleepless night, she rose, it was with the maze of disaster
still unthreaded. Her usual ingenuity of resource was become impotent.
Raging against her own supineness, she was yet forced into ignoble
inactivity.
Cicily learned that her husband had breakfasted early, and had left the
house, without any message to her, or any statement as to when he might
return. The sight of food sickened her, but she managed to drink a cup
of coffee, which put a little heart into her after the wearing hours of
the night. A turn around the Park and along the Drive still further
quickened her spirits; but the day passed without any flash of
inspiration as to a means for undoing the ill she had wrought. She made
a toilette for dinner by a brave effort. Yet, she might have spared her
pains, for Hamilton did not appear. She idled through the meal with as
much cheeriness of demeanor as she could summon for the benefit of the
servants. Afterward, she sought the seclusion of her boudoir, leaving
word that she should be notified immediately in the event of her
husband's return.
In the meantime, Hamilton himself had opportunity for meditation, and
this had softened his mood to some degree. He admitted to himself that
her interest in the wives of his workmen had been the prime factor in
their determination to endure a temporary cut in the wage-scale without
striking. To be sure, his own attitude of confidential intercourse with
the leaders in stating his position frankly had had its influence; but
he did not for a moment believe that this alone would have sufficed to
bend the men to his will. No, it had been the happy effect of his wife's
intimate association on terms of equality with the women that had been
the chief factor in creating a sentiment of sympathy for him to the
extent of cooeperation. Without her work in his behalf, the men would
certainly have struck. Now, since her mistake in judgment had been the
immediate cause of the strike, in justice she could hardly be held
guilty of more than an act of folly. Essentially, the final situation
was what it would have been without any intervention whatsoever on her
part. In going over the succession of events logically and calmly,
Hamilton came to the decision that he would absolve his wife from any
real guilt in the affair. He even felt a half-hearted kindliness toward
her for her blundering good-will. But he was none the less resolved that
he would tolerate no further injection of this charming feminine
personality into his business concerns. The wife must mind her own
business--the home--and that alone; she must have no part in his.... It
was in this mood that he returned to his house late in the evening, and
shut himself into the study. There, presently, Cicily came, seeking him.
The bride was very beautiful to-night, with a touch of sadness in her
expression that gave her a new spirituelle charm. She had chosen a black
gown as becoming the melancholy of the time, but its austere lines,
without any touch of adornment, only brought into full relief the
exquisite outlines of the slenderly rounded form, and served to
emphasize the creamy whiteness of a complexion that was flawless. There
was hardly a glimpse of rose in the ivory curve of the cheeks, but there
was no lessening of the bending scarlet in the lips and the amber eyes
were luminous even beyond their wont, as their gentle radiance shone
forth above the dark circles traced by a sleepless night.
Hamilton turned a little as the door opened. He regarded his wife
quizzically as she walked forward with a step of native grace, now grown
a trifle languid from the weight on her spirit. He did not speak,
however, until she had seated herself in the chair facing his. Then,
when at last she looked up, and her somber gaze encountered his, he
spoke lightly:
"Cicily, my dear, I think you are well rid of that coterie of cats."
"Why, how did you know?" Cicily questioned, in some astonishment as to
his knowledge of her break with the members of the Civitas Society.
"Oh, in a very simple way. Aunt Emma told Uncle Jim, and Uncle Jim told
me," Then, out of the kindness of his heart, the young husband went on
speaking in such wise, according to his best judgment, as should console
the very apparent misery of his wife. "My dear," he said gently, "I want
you to know that I don't really blame you for this wretched strike. I'd
have had it on my hands just the same, if you'd never had a finger in
the pie. So, don't go grieving over something that can't be helped. And,
of course, I give you all credit for the very best of intentions in the
matter. Only--" he broke off discreetly; but the discretion had come too
late.
"Only what?" Cicily questioned, quietly. There was something ominous in
the quiet, and this the man realized.
Nevertheless, Hamilton was not one to shirk that which he deemed his
duty. So, now, he answered lucidly with just what was in his mind as to
the future relations between them, although he understood sufficiently
well the ambitions of the woman before him to know that he must wound
her deeply.
"Sweetheart," he said softly, "I don't wish to grieve you in any way.
Yet, I must insist calmly now on what I said yesterday in the heat of
anger. You must attend to your duty in the home. It is for me, and for
me alone, to conduct matters of business outside. Can you not understand
that you are by nature and training utterly incompetent for the role you
seek to play? Business aptitude is not a thing to be picked up in an
instant, haphazard, at the wish of anyone. It is something acquired by
long striving and experience. The man has it in greater or less degree,
as the result of generations of the work; he inherits an aptitude; he
develops it by systematic training. Feminine intuition cannot give you a
substitute for the practical needs of business. So, my dear, I beg you
to be reasonable. You must not meddle further in my affairs. But, don't,
for heaven's sake, be melancholy over it. I love you, my dear, and I
want you to be happy. You will be, if only you can get the right point
of view. Try! Won't you, dear?" As he finished speaking with this
appeal, Hamilton leaned forward anxiously, pleadingly. Deep down in his
heart he felt a glow of pride over the mildness and the reasonableness
with which he had presented the case in its true light to this
irrational, dear creature.
For a long minute, Cicily vouchsafed no answer, although she felt the
intensity of his gaze fixed upon her. She remained motionless, leaning
back in the chair, her taper fingers loosely clasped on her lap, her
eyes downcast, as one absorbed in earnest, yet not disquieting, thought.
Finally, however, she raised her head slowly, and her gaze met that of
her husband fairly. It seemed to him that perhaps the faint touch of
color in her cheeks had grown a little brighter, but of this he could
not be sure. Otherwise, certainly, she betrayed no sign of particular
emotion; whereat he rejoiced, since he knew from experience that her
temperament might manifest tumultuously on occasion.
"Then, it's come," she said at last, in a low voice. Again, her eyes
were downcast, and she rested there, to all appearance, tranquilly
indifferent.
Hamilton stirred uneasily. This was not what he had expected, and he
found himself unprepared for the emergency.
"If you mean that common-sense has come," he remarked grimly, "I beg to
tell you that it has, and that it has come to stay!"
The wife spoke again, rather languidly, without troubling to raise her
eyes.
"You mean that you are going to push me back, that you are going to shut
me out of your life totally--out of your big, whole, full life? You mean
that, for the future, you are going to treat me as a doll, as a
plaything with which to amuse yourself when you chance to be tired and
in a mood for such diversion--in fact, as other men of the average sort
treat their wives? You have told your side of it. Now, I'm going to tell
you mine. And I'm going to ask you not to decide too hastily. Think over
the matter carefully, I beg of you. For, you see, it involves our whole
future, yours and mine.... Charles, once you yielded to my wishes. You
took me in. You let me help you."
"Yes," exclaimed Hamilton, in exasperation of spirit. "And you made a
mess of things all round!" He shook his head emphatically. "No, Cicily;
I tell you, no!"
"Charles, wait!" the wife commanded, raising her eyes, and straightening
her form in sudden animation. "Take my money--take everything that I
have. Throw it away, if you want to. Use it in your business, if it will
help the least bit. Do whatever you please--only, don't shut me out.
Tell me everything. Teach me something of your knowledge concerning
these things. Let me share as much as I can. You direct, of course. I'll
only do what you wish me to do. But don't drive me away from you." She
paused, leaned farther forward, and went on speaking in a tone of
deepest seriousness: "If we part this way now, if I am to cease from any
interest in your affairs, and you go on alone, why, then, I'll never
have you again. I know that for the truth. That's why I am pleading like
this. Once, I demanded it as a right; now, I beg it as a favor. Here is
the choice, Charles. You can't be as Uncle Jim is, simply because I
won't be like Aunt Emma in this matter. If you shut me out now, I'll
shut you out--for good!"
"Good God! was there ever such a woman!" Hamilton cried, in desperation.
"Why, if I were to take you in, within two weeks you'd be down there,
helping the families of the strikers. You told me that, yourself."
"Would you have me see them starve, Charles, when I had the means for
their relief?" came the undaunted retort.
"That does settle it!" Hamilton exclaimed, with angry vehemence. It came
to him in this instant that all his reasonableness and gentleness were
futile when opposed to the unfeminine ambition of his girl wife. Temper
had him in its clutch, and he yielded blindly to its guidance. "I'm your
husband, Cicily," he announced, dictatorially. "Please, understand that,
from now on, I direct the affairs of this family. There can be no
happiness in a house without head--only bother and worry and confusion.
From now on, I direct. I'm the head of this house.... I have a big fight
on. I intend that you shall be loyal. I mean that you shall be faithful
to me straight through."
"You demand this?" The woman's voice was like ice.
"Yes," the husband replied, roughly. "I demand that you take your proper
place, the place of a wife in her husband's home; and that you stay
there, doing as I tell you. And, in this strike, you keep your hands
off. This is what you must do, as long as I am your husband." The man's
eyes were masterful; his jaw was thrust forward.
"Well, if that's the sort of man you are, I won't have you for a
husband," Cicily declared, quietly. There was an air of aloofness about
her that was more disturbing than had been a display of passion. "If
that's your idea of marriage, we'd be better apart, for it isn't mine.
No, you're not my husband," She stood up, slowly drew the wedding-ring
from her finger, and laid it on the table.
"Cicily!" Hamilton cried, aghast, as she turned away.
She did not pause until she was come to the door. But, there, she faced
about for a final utterance.
"No, I won't have you for a husband," was her ultimatum.... "And yet, I
think that I'll teach you a lesson. I have a fancy to save you--in spite
of yourself!" And, leaving Hamilton to ponder these astounding words,
she went forth from the room.