When I tell you that even The Searchlight, which lives on scandal, kept
off it, you can judge how dangerous it was. Well; I had it pat. It was
really big stuff of its kind. The woman was brilliant, a daughter of one
of the oldest and most noted New York families; and noted in her own
right. She had never married: preferred to follow her career. The man
was eminent in his line: not a society figure, except by marriage--his
wife was active in the Four Hundred--because he had no tastes in that
direction. He was nearly twenty years senior to the girl. The affair was
desperate from the first. How far it went is doubtful; my informant gave
it the worst complexion. Certainly there must have been compromising
circumstances, for the wife left him, holding over him the threat of
exposure. He cared nothing for himself; and the girl would have given up
everything for him. But he was then engaged on a public work of
importance; exposure meant the ruin of that. The wife made conditions;
that the man should neither speak to, see, nor communicate with the
girl. He refused. The girl went into exile and forced him to make the
agreement. My informant had a copy of the letter of agreement; you can
see how close she was to the family. She said that, if we printed it,
the man would instantly break barriers, seek out the girl, and they
would go away together.
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