His wife should know at once how her
husband passed his time during her absence. She had posted herself, and
she saw that her shaft hurt. Babcock winced, but mad and incredulous, he
threatened her with arrest and drove her from the room. She went out
smiling, but with an ominous look in her eyes, the remembrance of which
made him ask himself now and again if she could be vicious enough, or
fool enough, to keep her promise. He dismissed the idea as improbable;
still the bare chance worried him. Selma was to arrive early the next
morning, and he had reconciled himself to the conclusion that she need
never know, and that he would henceforth be a faithful husband. Had he
not given an earnest of his good faith in his reception of his visitor?
Surely, no such untoward and unnatural accident would dash the cup of
returning happiness from his lips. A more clever man would have gone
straight to police headquarters, instead of trusting to chance.
A night's rest reassured him as to the idleness of the threat, so that
he was able to welcome Selma at the railroad station with a
comparatively light heart. She was in high spirits over the success of
her expedition, and yet graciously ready to admit that she was glad to
return home--meaning thereby, to her own bed and bathing facilities; but
the general term seemed to poor Lewis a declaration of wifely devotion.
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