me to a perfect
understanding. When Mavick arose to go they shook hands even more
cordially than at first, and Henderson said:

"Well, I expect to hear from you, and remember that our house will
always be your home in the city."

IX

It seemed very fortunate to Jack Delancy that he should have such
a clever woman as Carmen for his confidante, a man so powerful as
Henderson as his backer, and a person so omniscient as Mavick for his
friend. No combination could be more desirable for a young man who
proposed to himself a career of getting money by adroit management and
spending it in pure and simple self-indulgence. There are plenty of men
who have taken advantage of like conditions to climb from one position
to another, and have then kicked down the ladders behind them as fast as
they attained a new footing. It was Jack's fault that he was not one of
these. You could scarcely dignify his character by saying that he had
an aim, except to saunter through life with as little personal
inconvenience as possible. His selfishness was boneless. It was not
by any means negative, for no part of his amiable nature was better
developed than regard for his own care and comfort; but it was not
strong enough to give him Henderson's capacity for hard work and even
self-denial, nor Mavick's cool, persevering skill in making a way for
himself in the world. Why was not Edith his confidante? His respect for
her was undoubted; his love for her was unquestioned; his trust in her
was absolute. And yet with either Carmen or Miss Tavish he fell into
confidential revelations of himself which instinctively he did not make
to Edith. The explanation of this is on the surface, and it is the key
to half the unhappiness in domestic life. He felt that Edith was not in
sympathy with the associations and the life he was leading. The pitiful
and hopeless part of it is that if she had been in sympathy with them,
Jack would have gone on in his frivolous career at an accelerated pace.
It was not absence of love, it was not unfaithfulness, that made Jack
enjoy the hours he spent with Carmen, or with the pleasing and not too
fastidious Miss Tavish, with a zest that was wanting to his hours at
home. If he had been upon a sinking steamboat with the three women,
and could have saved only one of them, he would not have had a moment's
hesitation in rescuing Edith and letting the other two sink out of his
life. The character is not unusual, nor the situation