Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1904-02-16
cuAprER XVII;


The returned wanderer was, of course,
a great deal incensed by the note his
wife had left for him, and it began to
be clear to his own intelligence that be-
fore he had read that heartless greeting
he had been inspired by the tenderest
and most husbandly sentiments. After
that, however. he was going to stand no
nonsense. She had declared war; and it
eased Wills conscience to be able to re-
gard her as an acknowledged and open
enemy. He was able to swagger in upon
the solicitor and lay claim to his wife's
belongings without any too pressing SEN
timent of self-disdain. At bottom he
knew that he was acting like 5lack-
guard. buta he was not forced to admit
as much himself.
He put up at the hotel, and his open
arrival there excited a good deal of at
tention and comment People for the
most part gave him the cold shoulder,
and there was not a soul who met him
with that enthusiasm of friendship which
he felt to be due to a popular traveller
on his return TO his native place. There
were some who were willing TO be friend
| ly. but they were not the people he want
| ed and altogether he was less happy
than he had hoped to be. In respect of
mere money he had never been so we'll off
| in all his life Howarth had died
warm" as the current phrase about him
went, ana Will had before him the pros
pect Of an undisturbed nibble ut that con-
| siderable hoard while it should last. The
wife was defenseless against him, and as
| last protest the possibilities of con-
/ science-what had he married her for
but her money?
The averages get wonderfully good
care taken of them always. and by way
of balance in this instance. if VIII Hack
| EFT undervalued Mary, his wife. Ned
/ Blame overvalued her almost enough for
| fun counterssuiss For by this time there
had never been Sc patient and so angelic
sufferer since the world began. So
meek. so defenseless, vet so courageous.
she seemed to Ned's eyes, that he wor-
/ shlped her. His own staiwart limbs and
rude health defed disaster and seemed
somewhat 20 merit il. if only for the sake
of rough-and-tumble with the world
| and fate: but she. so delicate. tender and
pallid, should surely have been sheltered
| from all imaginable ills and have been
called to confront nothing that was
harsh. comfortieSs or unfriendly. And
thus. as was natural for man in love.
though il could o1iy be absurd for any
but a lover. the infant school was the
scene Of a most valorous slow tragedy.
snd the native instinct 10 hold body and
soul together became an enterprise purely
angelic.
The passion which deiied tie girl nat
urallv enough demonixed the scoundrel
who was her husband. To look at him
fairly. VIII was no more than despica-
bic but Blame was not in A position to
assume purely critical attitude. To him
the selfish rascal stood mountainous. phe-
nomenal hideouSly deformed. Blame had
carried a duh, saw despair 50 long that
he had begun TO think Of himself as q
man of dull nature: bur now that II be-
gan to be noised abroad that Hackett
was back again and squaHdering his
wife's substance he began 20 hate with
heat and intensity which sometimes ter
ri6ed him. The fierce ioatlling and re
volt he sometimes felt az the bare exist
/ enee OF this poor and commonplace per
sonage grown phenomenal would stab az
| him as il with the sudden anguish of a
red-hot knife. and he would sicken and
whiri with the intensity OF his own hat
rcd.
Resolutely hour by hour and day by
DAY he had to fight against himself lest
he should seek the man and lay upon
him hands that could be nothing less