THE COURIER
4
O
A
alion as common as daylight; anil yet it looks curious in cold typo.
Without reflection, you will condemn the picture as d.slorted and
untrue; but thinking it over, comparing experiences, invtstigating
a little, you will oinj to a realization of its trulh.
This is the oni'tin iti-jn: In business matters. Mr. tlyde could
bo trusted without limit. Mr. Wheeling, his employer, with whom
ho sto")d ii. the most confidential relations, considered him as his
right hand, and treated him always with the utmost consideration
and respect, lie paid him a large salary, with a yearly vacation,
and took Mr. Hyde's opinion into account in making every move.
And yet, he knew his confidential clerk's escapades, and while ho
did uot approve of them, really considered them as mere trilling
episodes in life, not worthy of the most serious contemplation. Mr.
Wheeling was a good man, with sons and daughters, a conscien
tious man, who would not wrong his neighbor, a cultured man,
with high ideals; he would have cut off his right hand if it offend
ed him. He most thorough"- dissapproved of Hyde's immoralities,
and still, thero is the wonder of it, he did not regard them as any
thing moro than trifling'inaccuracies. Of courco, to do him justice,
ho did not know details, but ho did know enough bestial generali
ties to have put him on his guard, and to have awakened his inter
est in the subject to a reforming purpose.
But Mr. Wheeling did not interfere, save weakly, and his business
representative went on in his dissolute way.
This was the man sitting on the bench with Mrs. Chapman.
There was an intimacy between them, which had grown from the
day of the introduction in the hotel. Not a usual intimacy. An
idea of wrong doing had never crossed Mrs. Chapmans mind. She
had been accustomed to contact with the world. And she permitted
no undue familiarity as she regarded undue familiarity. Of a cer
tain kind, she had wisdom, and she matched her wit against the
wit of a man with a confidence that is sometimes a safeguard, and
sometimes a help to destruction.
The conversation may be interesting; hero is a sample of it; the
lady spbaking:
"I do not see what life is worth if one is to vegetate in a singlo
place, with a singlo set of companions forever. There ought to be
happiness for everybody; but there is none for me in the existence I
am now leading."
"It is as you say, Mrs. Chapman, there is nothing worth having in
a life without variety. Women don't get a fair share of it, I must
confess. They are bound down by rules, by Mrs. Grundy, and I
don't know what besides. I am going to take a trip to the sea
shore in a few days, I don't need an escort or a chaperone; the idea
of my proposing such a thing would bo extremely funny. I will go
to Loug Branch, to Atlantic City, and wherever I like. I will stop
at strange hotels and meet strange people. There is no harm in it,
but a woman couldn't do that.'
"No," said Mrs. Chapman, energetically. "She could not, and
that is what I object to. You and I, for instance, couldn't make the
trip together, no matter how proper we were. It would make a
scandal. Why should it be so? Why shouldn't I be your comrade
on a journey, just as properly, as if I were a man?"
"I am sure," said the man, "that I would bo glad to chance the
scandal for the sake of the pleasure it would give me to have such
an agreeable companion."
Mrs. Chapman faced him, and for a moment he thought he had
made a false move; but ho did not know the woman well. There
was much scorn in her answer.
"You would risk the scandal? You? You would give one of your
ears to have such a scandal, and you know it. Ris.? Wh.it do you
risk? It would help your reputation such a thing. While 1 am in
danger, sitting l.eie calmly, in a public place and talking to you
though I might really be teaching you y.iur prayers. I ; would be
a choice morsel of gossip, even to see us sitting here."
Mr. Hyde took c mr,i;'e from thes n 1 wont ano'her step.
"Yin dispi-n tho .; -, I So iv YiiM'n 1 earn ar i' i- tho'ii
Why not a week or so of pur. fti 1? Why not go with m n;i the
trip? I pledge you my honor "
The lady interrupted: "Xever mind your honor ami your o- tlm
haseu therou. I do care for the tfisip. I am romp died t. Tiey
will bo my death s m day. Th y vill tell nw "nub ml a n'orv that
he will believe, and there may b minder com from ir, wlnle all tht
while I am simply trying to find some amusement teoiue relief I mn
the treadmill grind of lifts"
Mr. Hyde leaned toward her, and attempted to take her hand,
lying i ily in her lap. She put him aside, without surprise, without
emotion, saying bitterly:
"Honor! It isn't a part of jou. It has no place in your mako up
and I verily believe no man inissesses it. I have been a chum with
you for weeks. Have been meeting you and going to places with
joy. My husband is away most of the time. I was foolish enough
to think that you would be a good fellow, and treat mo as a good
fellow. But, bah you are like the rest of that sensual, selfish, mass
called men." The last word, delivered with especial scorn, and with
the most contemptuous emphasis.
"You must not feel that you aro called upon to make an excuso
for an apology. I do not feel indignant toward you, especially. I
feel liko a woman who has found a diamond; has carried it around,
elated at being its possessor; has gloated over it in secret; has
thought herself rich with a famous jewel, and at last found that her
vaunted treasuro was cheap, cheap, valueless paste."
"Why, Mrs. Chapman, I beg that you will not think " ho be
gan. She interrupted him.
"What I think, or what I did not think will cut no figure with
you. You will not care, and I shall not care that you do not care
You imagined, perhaps, that I was in lovo with you. You aro mis
taken. I have had a theory that I could bo a companion and friend,
I had allusion. You havo dispelled it, that is all. Come, it is got
ing late, let us get the next car down town."
Mr. Hyde, crushed and crestfallen, followed her majestic lend:
"What does sho mean, this woman?" ho thought.
The character of the man is plain. Tho motive of his companion
ship with the handsome wife of an absent husband does not need
elucidation.
The character of the women seems not so easy to read. Why
should she have had clandestine meetings with this half stranger?
She admitted to herself that gossip might have resulted from her
actions, and that worso than gossip might ha'e finally befallen
Why did she take these chances? This human comedy is in daily
representation. On a thousand stages are the actors strutting,
only that the last scene is a little different, generally. At least as
men count and women write down. The number of women who
halt, and face about, having been unconventional, imprudent, fool
ish, whatever word you choose to use to describe such actions, be
fore they fall over tho precipice, aro not counted.
This woman had not entered upon a flirtation. Her innocenco
and her honesty had never been in any balance. She had no notion
for bartering them or exhangiiu them for anything. Tne desires
of her heart are not the things which aro counted morally evil, but
they were for the forbidden fruit which society permits noi to be
plucked, except under conditions vhich she had violated.
Why could sho .it do the things that men do? Why cu!d she
not, gaily and innoc ntly, g wttii me c nnpaniomhip of n truo ma i,
not her husband, to L i.ig Beach or elsewhere? Why should she bo
bound to a wheel oi ciawntto lality whtca forual- her. an winal
partner with her husba-id in a .uatriinonial venture, to do '.he , lungs
which tba" partuer huso.i.id uiuh: do with impunity?
She w mill like t g avv iy for a uuie. Shu Watilct liico to Uivo
husja il t i 1 ai ei iiitii,'.i,'i''liM-wfjrn,tJ n f5'
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