o anyone, even Mrs. Earle. She would write and explain
what had happened.

BOOK II.

THE STRUGGLE

CHAPTER I.

Littleton had not expected that Selma would accede to his request to be
married at once, but he was delighted at her decision. He had uttered
his wish in sincerity, for there was really no reason for waiting, and
by an immediate marriage they would escape the tedium of an engagement
during which they could hope to see each other but rarely. He was able
to support a wife provided they were to live simply and economically. He
felt sure that Selma understood his circumstances and was no less ready
than he to forego luxuries in order that they might be all in all to
each other spiritually as husband and wife. Besides he had hopes that
his clientage would continue to grow so that he would be able to provide
all reasonable comforts for his new home. Consequently he drove up from
the station in New York with a light heart, fondly pointing out to his
wife this and that building and other objects of interest. He mistook
her pensive silence for diffidence at the idea of descending suddenly on
another woman's home--a matter which in this instance gave him no
concern, for he had unlimited confidence in Pauline's executive ability
and her tendency not to get ruffled. She had been his good angel,
domestically speaking, and, indeed, in every way, since they had first
begun to keep house together, and it had rather amused him to let fall
such a bombshell as the contents of his telegram upon the regularity of
her daily life.

"Don't be nervous, darling," he said gayly. "You will find Pauline
bubbling over with joy at our coming, and everything arranged as though
we were expected to live there all our lives."

Selma looked at him blankly and then remembered. She was not feeling
nervous, and Pauline was not in her thoughts. She had been lost in her
own reflections--lost in the happy consciousness of the contrast between
her new and her old husband, and in the increasing satisfaction that she
was actually in New York. How bright and busy the streets looked! The
throng of eager passers and jostling vehicles against the background of
brilliant shop-windows bewildered and stimulated her. She was saying to
herself that here was the place where she was suited to live, and mutely
acknowledging its superiority to Benham as a centre of life. This was a
rash, swift conclusion, but Selma prided herself on her capacity to
a