Babcock agreed to Mr.
Lyons's suggestion not to contest the legal proceedings. The lawyer had
been diligent, and the necessary evidence--the testimony of the
woman--was secure. She was ready to carry her revenge to the end,
hoping, perhaps, that the victim of it would return to her when he had
lost his wife. Accordingly, a few weeks later, Selma was granted a
divorce nisi and the right to resume her maiden name. She had decided,
however, to retain the badge of marriage as a decorous social prefix,
and to call herself Mrs. Selma White.

CHAPTER VIII.

The consciousness that she was dependent for the means of support solely
on her own exertions was a genuine pleasure to Selma, and she applied
herself with confidence and enthusiasm to the problem of earning her
livelihood. She had remained steadfast to her decision to accept nothing
from her husband except the legal costs of the proceedings, though Mr.
Lyons explained to her that alimony was a natural and moral increment of
divorce. Still, after her refusal, he informed her as a man and a friend
that he respected and admired the independence of her action, which was
an agreeable tribute. She had fixed definitely on newspaper work as the
most inviting and congenial form of occupation. She believed herself to
be well fitted for it. It would afford her an immediate income, and it
would give her the opportunity which she craved for giving public
expression to her ideas and fixing attention on herself. There was room
for more than one Mrs. Earle in Benham, for Benham was growing and
wide-awake and on the alert for originality of any kind--especially in
the way of reportorial and journalistic cleverness. Selma had no
intention of becoming a second Mrs. Earle. That is, she promised herself
to follow, but not to follow blindly; to imitate judiciously, but to
improve on a gradually diverging line of progress. This was mere
generalization as yet. It was an agreeable seething brain consciousness
for future development. For the moment, however, she counted on Mrs.
Earle to obtain for her a start by personal influence at the office of
the _Benham Sentinel_. This was provided forthwith in the form of an
invitation to prepare a weekly column under the caption of "What Women
Wear;" a summary of passing usages in clothes. The woman reporter in
charge of it had just died. Selma's first impulse was to decline the
work as unworthy of her abilities, yet she was in immediate need of
emp