alk was largely concerned with the scandal-mongery of the
town, and very soon the young wife knew that Mrs. May, whose husband was
"in the last stages," was in love with young Mr. June, and that Mr.
Frost, whose wife was "weakly," was going about shamelessly with Miss
Bloom, and all this comment came to her ears freighted with its worst
significance. Vile suggestion dripped from Charles Haney's reckless
tongue.

This was deep-laid policy with him. His purpose was to undermine her
loyalty as a wife. His approaches had no charm, no finesse. Presuming on
his relationship, he caught at her hand as she passed, or took a seat
beside her if he found her alone on a sofa. At such moments she was
furious with him, and once she struck his hand away with such violence
that she suffered acute pain for several hours afterwards.

His attentions--which were almost assaults--came at last to destroy a
large part of her joy in her new home. Her drives, when he sat beside
her, were a torture, and yet she could not bring herself to accuse him
before the crippled man, who really suffered from loneliness whenever
she was out of the house or busy in her household work. He had never
been given to reading, and was therefore pathetically dependent upon
conversation for news and amusement. He was much at home, too, for his
maiming was still so fresh upon him that he shrank from exhibiting
himself on the street or at the clubs (there are no saloons in the
Springs). Crego, whom he liked exceedingly, was very busy, and Williams
was away at the mines for the most part, and so, in spite of Bertha's
care, he often sat alone on the porch, a pitiful shadow of the man who
paid court to the clerk of the Golden Eagle.

Sometimes he followed the women around the house like a dog, watching
them at their dusting and polishing. "You'll strain yourself, Captain,"
Bertha warningly cried out whenever he laid hold of a chair or brush.
And so each time he went back to his library to smoke, and wait until
his wife's duties were ended. At such hours his brother was a comfort.
He was not a fastidious man, even with the refinement which had come
from his sickness and his marriage, and the actor (so long as he cast no
imputations on any friend) could talk as freely as he pleased.

Slowly, day by day, Charles regained Mart's interest and a measure of
his confidence. Having learned what to avoid and what to emphasize, he
now deplored the drink habits of his brothers, and