THE KEYS OF HEAVEN.

Jacob Olney comes as professor of English Literature to one of the smaller Universities (in the Eastern states — say, something between Williams and Princeton?) Call it Wendover.

Catherine Beecher is the wife of George Beecher, an architect who lives at Wendover. He is the University architect, and has a good deal of other business besides, as he has a certain technical ability and is a practical energetic sort of man. They have been married ten years, and have a little girl, Janey. Beecher is boastful, a little obtuse, and rather vain, but kind and generous.

Catherine and Jacob Olney fall madly in love with each other. It is the kind of love that lasts. They don't know that it is; but they both believe in it from the first, and faith works miracles.

Catherine has a great respect for her husband's professional ability. He is kind to her, and devoted to the little girl, to whom she is also passionately attached. Hence scruples, and a long

2.

Catherine

struggle, which Olney respects, because his love for Mr. Beecher is deep and patient. They are continually thrown together in the narrow society of a small University town, where the same people meet every day. Both of them are great readers, full of intellectual curiosity, and perfectly aware of the change in social standards, familiar with all the new jargon of self-expression, the right to realize one's self fully, the new tolerance toward divorce and frequent re-marriage, etc. But Catherine at least cannot fit it into that other theory of life based on the family, on loyalty, self-discipline and renunciation, which is as old as civilization, and seems to her its very foundation.

One day she and her husband, with Olney, are to motor 40 or 50 miles to spend the week-end with some friends in the country. Beecher is detained at the last moment by a new client, and asks Olney to drive Catherine. They go - a wonderful drive. They take a picnic lunch, and eat it by a waterfall in a glen trembling with larch and birch. It is a magic day. At night they find themselves lodged in a wing of the rambling old house (Olney, who was to have gone to the inn, Mr. Beecher's is put instead in Catherine's room). She locks the door between the rooms, and then sits trembling, and hoping he will try it. He does. She does not stir. After a while he gives up. — The next morning when she comes down she finds he has left by the early train. Her husband comes to fetch her. The drive home is long and hot and dull. Beecher, more boastful than usual, spends it in telling endless stories about himself and his new client. The contrast—

There is a temporary estrangement between Catherine and Olney. The husband notices it, and shows signs of being hurt

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There is nothing for it -- he has to go. Catherine remains --
but the next day he telegraphs her that his mother cannot
recover, and that he must remain with her.

Sick at heart, she too returns. But she feels herself suddenly drawn by the familiar welcoming look of the house, which she has lived in for so many years. The servants are delighted to see her. Beecher is not back. Her letter to him is on his desk. She burns it hastily, and is dazed to find herself in the old circumstances, with everything about her unchanged. She has dreamed her dream, and knows now that it is over.

Beecher comes back, out of sorts and worried by an unlucky investment and a law-suit with a client. Old Mrs. Olney's illness drags on. Olney refuses the Professorship offered him, and decides to stay on at Wendover. When he and Catherine meet, they talk at first of going away again -- but she at least now knows that it will never be. Beecher is broken-down and irritable, and has grown very dependent on her. Janey, unhappily married, leaves her husband and comes home with her baby to sue for a divorce. Catherine says to herself with a bitter smile that a grandmother cannot elope. Besides, her husband and daughter both need her now.

One day Beecher has a stroke. He remains quite helpless, and she has to wait on him. They are poor, and have to move into a small house in a dull part of the town. Janey is irritable and depressed. Catherine's life is fading into drab and mediocre old age; but Olney is there, growing older too, becoming a well-known and honoured figure in the University -- and her friend, her dear friend, to the end. Storm and stress are over -- they can sit quietly together and review the past.

2.

struggle, which Olney respects, because his love for her is deep and patient. They are continually thrown together in the narrow society of a small University town, where the same people meet every day. Both of them are great readers, full of intellectual curiosity, and perfectly aware of the change in social standards, familiar with all the new jargon of self-expression, the right to realize one's self fully, the new tolerance toward divorce and frequent re-marriage, etc. But Catherine at least cannot fit it into that other theory of life based on the family, on loyalty, self-discipline and renunciation, which is as old as civilization, and seems to her its very foundation.

One day she and her husband, with Olney, are to motor 40 or 50 miles to spend the week-end with some friends in the country. Beecher is detained at the last moment by a new client, and asks Olney to drive Catherine. They go - a wonderful drive. They take a pinnic lunch, and eat it by a waterfall in a glen trembling with larch and birch. It is a magic day. At night they find themselves lodged in a wing of the rambling old house (Olney was to have gone to the inn, and is put instead in her husband's room). She locks the door between the rooms, and then sits trembling, and hoping he will try it. He does. She does not stir. After a while he gives up. — The next morning when she comes down she finds he has left by the early train. Her husband comes to fetch her. The drive home is long and hot and dull. Beecher, more boastful than usual, spends it in telling endless stories about himself and his new client. The contrast—

3.

by Olney's neglect, and Catherine has to ask him to come back.
They try "friendship" — but find it useless and heart-breaking.
Olney grows restless, unhappy, savage with her. He makes some
excuse for not coming to the house. They break.

One night he meets her husband at a "house" in the
town. Beecher is slightly drunk, and full of sentimental
reproaches. Why doesn't he ever come to see them any more? He
mustn't mind Catherine's coldness. She's always as cold as a
stone. That's why... Two days later Olney hears that the little
girl is seriously ill. He calls to enquire, and on the third
day the child is recovering, and Catherine receives him. She
is touched by his coming, and he sees how much she has missed
him. She seems desperately unhappy and discouraged. Shall he
tell her where he has met her husband? — Will her husband tell
her about meeting him, Olney? But no — what folly! As he is
pondering this problem, the husband comes in, winks faintly at
him, and treats him as an accomplice, with vague jocose allu-
sions that disgust and exasperate Olney. He gets a year's
vacation, goes off to Europe, and does not write to her.

When he comes back the estrangement with Catherine
continues. He thinks of marrying, and encouraged by his mother
and sister (with whom he lives) is attentive to a "nice" girl.
But it is of no use — he can't forget. He drifts into a
liaison with an ultra-modern young woman, who lives near Wendo-
ver. Catherine hears of it, is furiously jealous, and makes a
scene. He accuses her of wanting everything and giving nothing —
and stung by this reproach, she drifts again into a sort of
sentimental friendship with him, and for her sake he breaks
with the other woman.

5.

There is nothing for it — he has to go. Catherine remains —
but the next day he telegraphs her that his mother cannot
recover, and that he must remain with her.

Sick at heart, she too returns. But she feels herself
suddenly drawn by the familiar welcoming look of the house which
she has lived in for so many years. The servants are delighted
to see her. Beecher is not back. Her letter to him is on his
desk. She burns it hastily, and is dazed to find herself in the
old circumstances, with everything about her unchanged. She has
dreamed her dream, and knows now that it is over.

Beecher comes back, out of sorts and worried by an
unlucky investment and a law-suit with a client. Old Mrs.
Olney's illness drags on. Olney refuses the Professorship
offered him, and besides to stay on at Wendover. When he and
Catherine meet, they talk at first of going away again — but
she at least now knows that it will never be. Beecher is broken-
down and irritable, and has grown very dependent on her. Janey,
unhappily married, leaves her husband and comes home with her
baby to sue for a divorce. Catherine says to herself with a
bitter smile that a grandmother cannot elope. Besides, her
husband and daughter both need her now.

One day Beecher has a stroke. He remains quite help-
less, and she has to wait on him. They are poor, and have to
move into a small house in a dull part of the town. Janey is
irritable and depressed. Catherine's life is fading into drab
and mediocre/old age; but Olney is there, growing older too,
becoming a well-known and honoured figure in the University —
and her friend, her dear friend, to the end. Storm and stress
are over — they can sit quietly together and review the past.