II

Musgrave was, not unnaturally, late for supper. It is not to be supposed

that at this meal the colonel faltered in his duties as a host, for, to

the contrary, he narrated several anecdotes in his neatest style. It was

with him a point of honor always to be in company the social triumph of

his generation. He observed with idle interest that Charteris and

Patricia avoided each other in a rather marked manner. Both seemed a

trifle more serious than they were wont to be.

After supper, Tom Gelwix brought forth a mandolin, and most of the

house-party sang songs, sentimental and otherwise, upon the front porch

of Matocton. Anne had disappeared somewhere. Musgrave subsequently

discovered her in one of the drawing-rooms, puzzling over a number of

papers which her maid had evidently just brought to her.

Mrs. Charteris looked up with a puckered brow. "Rudolph," said she,

"haven't you an account at the Occidental Bank?"

"Hardly an account, dear lady,--merely a deposit large enough to

entitle me to receive monthly notices that I have overdrawn it."

"Why, then, of course, you have a cheque-book. Horrible things, aren't

they?--such a nuisance remembering to fill out those little stubs. Of

course, I forgot to bring mine with me--I always do; and equally, of

course, a vexatious debt turns up and finds me without an Occidental

Bank cheque to my name."

Musgrave was amused. "That," said he, "is easily remedied. I will get

you one; though even if--Ah, well, what is the good of trying to teach

you adorable women anything about business! You shall have your

indispensable blank form in three minutes."

He returned in rather less than that time, with the cheque. Anne was

alone now. She was gowned in some dull, soft, yellow stuff, and sat by a

small, marble-topped table, twiddling a fountain-pen.

"You mustn't sneer at my business methods, Rudolph," she said, pouting a

little as she filled out the cheque. "It isn't polite, sir, in the first

place, and, in the second, I am really very methodical. Of course, I am

always losing my cheque-book, and drawing cheques and forgetting to

enter them, and I usually put down the same deposit two or three

times--all women do that; but, otherwise, I am really very careful. I

manage all the accounts; I can't expect Jack to do that, you know." Mrs.

Charteris signed her name with a flourish, and nodded at the colonel

wisely. "Dear infant, but he is quite too horribly unpractical. Do you

know this bill has been due--oh, for months--and he forgot it entirely

until this evening. Fortunately, he can settle it to-morrow; those

disagreeable publishers of his have telegraphed for him to come to New

York at once, you know. Otherwise--dear, dear! but marrying a genius is

absolutely ruinous to one's credit, isn't it, Rudolph? The tradespeople

will refuse to trust us soon."

Involuntarily, Musgrave had seen the cheque. It was for a considerable

amount, and it was made out to John Charteris.

"Beyond doubt," said Musgrave, in his soul, "Jack is colossal! He is

actually drawing on his wife for the necessary expenses for running away

with another woman!"

The colonel sat down abruptly before the great, open fireplace, and

stared hard at the pine-boughs which were heaped up in it.

"A penny," said she, at length.

He glanced up with a smile. "My dear madam, it would be robbery! For a

penny, you may read of the subject of my thoughts in any of the yellow

journals, only far more vividly set forth, and obtain a variety of more

or less savory additions, to boot. I was thinking of the Lethbury case,

and wondering how we could have been so long deceived by the man."

"Ah, poor Mrs. Lethbury!" Anne sighed, "I am very sorry for her,

Rudolph; she was a good woman, and was always interested in charitable

work."

"Do you know," said Colonel Musgrave, with deliberation, "it is she I

cannot understand. To discover that he had been systematically

hoodwinking her for some ten years; that, after making away with as much

of her fortune as he was able to lay hands on, he has betrayed business

trust after business trust in order to--to maintain another

establishment; that he has never cared for her, and has made her his

dupe time after time, in order to obtain money for his gambling debts

and other even less reputable obligations--she must realize all these

things now, you know, and one would have thought no woman's love could

possibly survive such a test. Yet, she is standing by him through thick

and thin. Yes, I confess, Amelia Lethbury puzzles me. I don't understand

her mental attitude."

Musgrave was looking at Anne very intently as he ended.

"Why, but of course," said Anne, "she realizes that it was all the fault

of that--that other woman; and, besides, the--the entanglement has been

going on only a little over eight years--not ten, Rudolph."

She was entirely in earnest; Colonel Musgrave could see it plainly.

"I admit I hadn't looked on it in that light," said he, at length, and

was silent for a moment Then, "Upon my soul, Anne," he cried, "I believe

you think the woman is only doing the natural thing, only doing the

thing one has a right to expect of her, in sticking to that blackguard

after she has found him out!"

Mrs. Charteris raised her eyebrows; she was really surprised.

"Naturally, she must stand by her husband when he is in trouble; why,

if his own wife didn't, who would, Rudolph? It is just now that he needs

her most. It would be abominable to desert him now."

Anne paused and thought. "Depend upon it, she knows a better side of his

nature than we can see; she knows him, possibly, to have been misled, or

to have acted thoughtlessly; because otherwise, she would not stand by

him so firmly." Having reached this satisfactory conclusion, Anne began

to laugh--at Musgrave's lack of penetration, probably. "So, you see,

Rudolph, in either case, her conduct is perfectly natural."

"And this," he cried, "this is how women reason!"

"Am I very stupid? Jack says I am a bit illogical at times. But,

Rudolph, you mustn't expect a woman to judge the man she loves; if you

call on her to do that, she doesn't reason about it; she just goes on

loving him, and thinking how horrid you are. Women love men as they do

children; they punish them sometimes, but only in deference to public

opinion. A woman will always find an excuse for the man she loves. If he

deserts her, she is miserable until she succeeds in demonstrating to

herself it was entirely her own fault; after that, she is properly

repentant, but far less unhappy; and, anyhow, she goes on loving him

just the same."

The colonel pondered over this. "Women are different," he said.

"I don't know. I think that, if all women could be thrown with good

men, they would all be good. Women want to be good; but there comes a

time to each one of them when she wants to make a certain man happy, and

wants that more than anything else in the world; and then, of course, if

he wants--very much--for her to be bad, she will be bad. A bad woman is

always to be explained by a bad man."

Anne nodded, very wisely; then, she began to laugh, but this time at

herself. "I am talking quite like a book," she said. "Really, I had no

idea I was so clever. But I have thought of this before, Rudolph, and

been sorry for those poor women who--who haven't found the right sort of

man to care for."

"Yes." Musgrave's face was alert. "You have been luckier than most,

Anne," he said.

"Lucky!" she cried, and that queer little thrill of happiness woke again

in her rich voice. "Ah, you don't know how lucky I have been, Rudolph! I

have never cared for any one except--well, yes, you, a great while

ago--and Jack. And you are both good men. Ah, Rudolph, it was very dear

and sweet and foolish, the way we loved each other, but you don't

mind--very, very much--do you, if I think Jack is the best man in the

world, and by far the best man in the world for me? He is so good to me;

he is so good and kind and considerate to me, and, even after all these

years of matrimony, he is always the lover. A woman appreciates that,

Rudolph; she wants her husband to be always her lover, just as Jack is,

and never to give in when she coaxes--because she only coaxes when she

knows she is in the wrong--and never, never, to let her see him shaving

himself. If a husband observes these simple rules, Rudolph, his wife

will be a happy woman; and Jack does. In consequence, every day I live I

grow fonder of him, and appreciate him more and more; he grows upon me

just as a taste for strong drink might. Without him--without him--"

Anne's voice died away; then she faced Musgrave, indignantly. "Oh,

Rudolph!" she cried, "how horrid of you, how mean of you, to come here

and suggest the possibility of Jack's dying or running away from me, or

doing anything dreadful like that!"

Colonel Musgrave was smiling, "I?" said he, equably. "My dear madam! if

you will reconsider,--"

"No," she conceded, after deliberation, "it wasn't exactly your fault. I

got started on the subject of Jack, and imagined all sorts of horrible

and impossible things. But there is a sort of a something in the air

to-night; probably a storm is coming down the river. So I feel very

morbid and very foolish, Rudolph; but, then, I am in love, you see.

Isn't it funny, after all these years?" Anne asked with a smile;--"and

so you are not to be angry, Rudolph."

"My dear," he said, "I assure you, the emotion you raise in me is very

far from resembling that of anger." Musgrave rose and laughed. "I fear,

you know, we will create a scandal if we sit here any longer. Let's see

what the others are doing."