"I don't know; she said she'd left for good and that she'd never live with her husband again. I told her she could do as she pleased about _that_, but I didn't propose to become involved. Then she threatened to commit suicide--throw herself in the lake. I told her to go ahead and then she had hysterics all over the place. I had a fine tea-party, I can tell you.... Somebody sent me a marked copy of the Club Window. I knew, then, it wouldn't be long before her husband would get wise to it and I didn't know what kind of a game he'd spring on me. I guess it's not the first time the lady has kicked over the matrimonial traces, according to reports. Maybe he's looking for just such an opening."
The room was thick with tobacco-smoke. Will was burning up one cigar after another.
"She made a fine spectacle of herself and of me by showing up at the railway station looking like a boiled owl. After our scene she capped the climax by getting a peach of a jag.... By George, I never will hear the last of it from the members of the company." He pulled down a window from the top and stopped at the desk, where he took a telegram from his portfolio--a Christmas present I had made him.
"Yesterday morning I received this." I read the message:
"Call me long distance Friday noon sharp. Important.
(Signed) DOC."
"It was decent of the Doc, wasn't it? Well, I got him on long distance and the first thing he asked me was whether the lady were with me.
'Well, not exactly _with_ me, but I can't shake her,' I shouted back.
'You've got to,' the Doc went on, 'for your wife's sake you mustn't get landed with the goods.' The Doc is one of these 'from-Missouri'
gentlemen and wouldn't believe I was innocent under oath. Just the same he's a good fellow. He told me he knew all about my predicament and that he'd taken time by the forelock and got hold of madame's sister, who was standing beside him while he talked. She had her grip with her, ready to start for Cincinnati at once. I told him to send her by the fastest express. The Doc said that madame's husband had returned to town unexpectedly--just as I had anticipated--and after a stay of twenty-four hours had again disappeared. No one at his office or at his home knew where he had gone. The sister said he had called her up and inquired where his wife had gone and had rung off abruptly. Then the Doc quizzed the stenographer, who was an old chum of his, and she confided to him that the husband's secretary had bought a ticket to Cleveland.... 'He's on the trail,' the Doc warned, 'and there's only one thing for you to do ... send for your wife if she's able to travel.... Make her get to Cincinnati before he does. Your wife is a level-headed little woman and if you put it to her straight she'll play up.... Together you can cook up something to placate the irate husband....' Can't you just hear the old Doc roar? Well, I thought his advice good and I wired you at once."
... "Has the sister arrived?" ... I found it difficult to make myself heard. My voice was dry and grated harshly....
"Yes, she's here; they're on the floor below." Will poured a glass of water and handed it me. Then he sat on the edge of the bed and waited.
It was his turn to be silent. He seemed to have talked himself out....
"Which of them is it?... Do I know her?"
"Yes; we had dinner at her house one Sunday night."
"Blonde?"
"Um--yes...."
"Art's triumph over Nature, I suppose." ... I could not resist the thrust ... suddenly I sat bolt upright.
"Will ... _Will_.... Not--Mrs F.--not the woman with the two little girls ... not the mother of those children...."
He nodded and raised his shoulders with a gesture which was half deploring, half deprecating.
"O!!!...." I covered my face with my hands ... the picture was _too_ revolting.... "Children don't cut much ice," the doctor had said. I stopped up my ears to shut out his voice....
"How did it begin?" I said at last.
"O ... the usual way ... supper--or dinner, I've forgotten which--a little flirtation, lots of booze, motor-rides, rendez-vous while you listen to the neglected wife song and dance, more dinners and suppers and motor-rides ... and the first thing you know the fool woman is in love with you, or thinks she is, which is worse.... I hope you don't blame _me_. I can't help it if women make fools of themselves over me."
... Something in Will's tone--a _sang froid_--almost a _braggadocio_--sent the blood to my face with a rush of anger. I leaned forward in my chair and looked him in the eyes.
"Will ... do you mean to tell me that you never encouraged this woman?"
"How do you mean--encouraged?"
"In God's name don't juggle with your words--don't equivocate! You know what I mean as well as I do!--to encourage in a hundred intangible ways; to show that you are flattered by a woman's attention; to let her believe that _you_ believe you are the only one upon whom she has bestowed her favours; to let her tell you that you are the first man for whom she has betrayed her husband, though she has been neglected and unhappy for years and years; to cram down your throat the intimate confidences of her married life and to tell you she has never sought consolation elsewhere; to let her do all these without giving her the lie when you know in your heart she was lying. That's what I mean!... O, believe me I am beginning to understand the intricacies of the game ...
and if you have gone the limit ... I don't ask you to confess it ...
fidelity does not hinge upon the sexual act, alone--though you men place that above every other virtue in a woman--but I do ask you for the sake of your manhood, for your own self-respect, don't, _don't_ play the part of a cad!"
Will winced as if I had struck him in the face. His face had grown quite pale and his lips were compressed. When he spoke his voice cut the air like a fine blade of steel.
"So that's what you think, is it?... I've obviously made a mistake in sending for you ... but I did so more for your sake than for my own ...
to prepare you and save you from a shock if there was a blow-out.... I never knew before what a poor opinion you had of me."
"Don't distort my words, Will, if you please...."
He paced back and forth, beating the back of one hand against the palm of the other.
"I know you're sick and weak.... I'm trying to make every allowance for your state of nerves. Up to date you've played up like a brick. I've often watched you and secretly admired the way you handled things, but--if you're going to spoil it all by developing into a jealous woman at this stage of the game...." I turned on him quickly.
"I'm sure you can't say that I've ever annoyed you in that line."
"No, I'll admit, you've been a level-headed woman ... but remember I've played square with you and I think you'll admit _that_. I've never had a serious affair with any woman--and the Lord knows I have it thrown at me from all sides. The woods are full of Potiphar's wives.... If you had some men to deal with ... how many of 'em can stand up against that sort of thing without losing their heads?... why, I've had people tell me we were a model couple ... and, here, the first time I get into anything like a serious predicament----"
"Then you admit other predicaments?"
"Why, of course, there's been ... O, hell--what's the use of trying to argue with a woman! You're like all the rest!--when it comes to a show-down they're not deuces high!" ... He crossed to the telephone and called a waiter.
"I've got to order an early dinner; I'll have a fine dose of indigestion as it is--after all this infernal row.... Of course, if it came to a show-down and he named me as co-respondent it wouldn't do _me_ any damage but it would upset the pater and the rest of the family all along the line. You know how they feel about the stage...."
"What about me?" was on the tip of my tongue but I did not voice it or the thoughts which followed. How should I feel to see a home broken up and to know that my husband shared in the wrecking?--whether directly or indirectly--the results were the same. And the woman--and the two little girls ... what of them?... A knock at the door caused my very heart to contract. Had the husband arrived to demand Heaven only knew what?...
The waiter entered with a menu. I had completely forgotten that Will had summoned him. When the waiter had taken the order and gone, Will crossed and laid his hand on my arm.
"Come now, girlie--we musn't let this fool thing come between you and me. It isn't worth it! You know I love you ... you're the only woman I've ever loved ... ever _will_ love...."
O, wise husband! He knew I could no more resist his tenderness than a flower resists the warm sun.... He let me revel in my first fierce burst of tears and comforted me mutely; then, still holding me in his arms, he went on talking:
"Sometimes I hate this damned business and feel that I'd like to chuck it altogether ... but what's a man to do after he's given the best years of his life to one thing? It takes a long time to get established in any profession, nowadays ... and I'm getting older every day.... I'm sorry I was ugly ... _my_ nerves are a bit frazzled, too ... but I'll be all right, now that you and I understand each other ... come, now ... let's forget it.... Come in the bath-room and bathe your eyes. I've ordered a nice little dinner and a bottle of fizz; it'll buck you up. Then, before I go to the performance, we'll outline some plan of action...."
"What do you want me to do?" I asked, as I came out of the bath-room a little later.
CHAPTER XIII
When I entered the room I had no intention of engaging in a slanging match. I had telephoned my coming and her sister was awaiting me. I felt almost sorry for the girl standing beside the bed, her eyes meeting mine uncertainly, her lips forcing a greeting.
"Won't you sit down? Fannie, here is Mrs. Hartley...."
The woman in the bed turned and raised herself on her elbow. Her face was swollen, the lips blue and loose, and her eyes had the look of watery gelatine. Without meeting my eyes, she moaned theatrically and buried her face in the pillows.
"What--_what_ must you think of me?" she whined.
"I think you're a fool!" slipped out before I could prevent it.
"All women are fools--we're all fools over some man," she exclaimed, pounding the pillows with her fist and working herself up to a Zazaesque brand of hysteria.