"I
intend to support myself. I shall write--work."
"Of course you will, dear; and it will be a boon and a blessing to me to
have you in our ranks--one of the new army of self-supporting,
self-respecting women. I suppose you are right. I have never had a
sixpence. But your husband deserves to be punished. Perhaps it is
punishment enough to lose you."
"He will get over that. It is enough for me," she exclaimed, ardently,
after a dreamy pause, "that I am separated from him forever--that I am
free--free--free."
A night's sleep served to intensify Selma's determination, and she awoke
clearly of the opinion that a divorce was desirable. Why remain fettered
by a bare legal tie to one who was a husband only in name? Accordingly,
in company with Mrs. Earle, she visited the office of James O. Lyons,
and took the initiatory steps to dissolve the marriage.
Mr. Lyons was a large, full-bodied man of thirty-five, with a fat,
cleanly-shaven, cherubic countenance, an aspect of candor, and keen,
solemn eyes. His manner was impressive and slightly pontificial; his
voice resonant and engaging. He knew when to joke and when to be grave
as an owl. He wore in every-day life a shiny, black frock-coat, a
standing collar, which yawned at the throat, and a narrow, black tie.
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