He seemed to Selma a very sensible and
capable man, and it was agreeable to her to feel that he appreciated
that, though divorce in the abstract was deplorable, her experience
justified and called for the protection of the law.
In the meantime Babcock was very unhappy, and was casting about for a
method to induce his wife to return. He wrote to her a pitiful letter,
setting forth once more the sorry facts in the best light which he could
bring to bear on them, and implored her forgiveness. He applied to her
aunt, Mrs. Farley, and got her to supplement his plea with her
good-natured intervention. "There are lots of men like that," she
confided to Selma, "and he's a kind, devoted creature." When this
failed, he sought Rev. Mr. Glynn as a last resort, and, after he had
listened to a stern and fervid rating from the clergyman on the lust of
the flesh, he found his pastor on his side. Mr. Glynn was opposed to
divorce on general ecclesiastical principles; moreover, he had been
educated under the law of England, by which a woman cannot obtain a
divorce from her husband for the cause of adultery unless it be coupled
with cruelty--a clever distinction between the sexes, which was
doubtless intended as a cloak for occasional lapses on the part of man.
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