Studies in Wives

n; full measure also of feverish suspense, for Theodore Carden did not find it quite so easy as he had tho

of confrontation with the various men, any one of whom, through a simple mistake or nervous lapse of

m in the sordid promiscuity of such scenes, singled out Theodore Carden as resembling the mysterious in

gan.... The moment twilight fell he was haunted, physically and mentally possessed, by the presence of

is father was away, performing the task of breaking so much of the

t, the suburban road in front of the fine old house was filled by an ever coming and going crowd of bat-like men and women, eager to gaze with morbid curiosity at the dwelling

ght, for it was when he found himself alone in the drawing-room or library that h

antly he seemed conscious of a faint, sweet odour, that of wood violets, a scent closely asso

tainly not there. But no such relief was vouchsafed him; and yet once, when sitting in the drawing-room, trying to r

ed their close, for at night, during the whole of each long night, t

s soft, slender arms about his neck; they would wind themselves round his shuddering body, enclos

was then, and then only, that he found courage to speak, courage to assure her, and so assure himself, that he was in no sense her accomplice, that he had had naught to do with ol

come, for the next morning Theodore Carden was to

eel bound to be when in the presence of one condemned. As for Major Lane, he was stretching-no one knew it

the old man had been told, and he had no wish to know. A wall of silence had arisen between the two who had always been so much, nay, in a sense, everything, to one

t aside the idea with rough decision. Perhaps when he was far away on the other side of the world, the former relations of close love and sympathy,

pretty peaceful room which had once been his nursery,

wraith that haunted him, if not less near, then less malicious, less watchful than usual, above all less eager to assert her power.... Yet, even s

knew that he was still near home, and not, as would have been natural, in New Zealand. Nay, more, he realised that the unfamiliar place in which he now found h

ndle. The wall of silence, raised on both sides by shame and pain, had broken down, but, alas! too late; for, again in some curious inexplicable way, the

easiness, but on his father's account he felt infinitely distressed, and

dinary amount of nonsense is talked nowadays concerning-well, the death penalty. Is it possible that you do not realise that

oy, I could bear it for you;" and Carden saw that his fathe

me, I am not afraid-it will not be so bad after all.

small, spare figure of that same dear father, clothed in the long, ol

d was gazing down at his only child with

my boy, not to be unreaso

arden sat

tten self, but now he saw that his sufferings were small compared with those he

ent was intolerably heavier than the crime; but then, looking up and meeting Thomas Carden's perplexed, questioning eyes, he felt a great rush of shame and horror, not only of himself,

f such a thing. We will go together, you and I,-Lane has told me that such

for many nights, Theodore Car