His Second Wife

the girls she had known in school. Two had gone west, but the other one was still in Ohio and was planning to come to New York, to take a course of training as nurse in one of the hospi

er letter was full of her happines

land and was a stenographer in a broker's office there; a third was in Chicago, the wife of a young lawyer; and a fourth had married an engineer who was working a mine in Montana. It made an absorbing narrative, and she read it several times. At first it took her out of herself, far, far out all over the land. How good it was to

t suffragist, and she it was who had brought so many modern books and plays and "movements" into their talk. Chained to her job in the small town, she had followed voraciously all the news of the seething c

make the doorways wide for the girls who will come after you! Keep yourselves strong and awake and alive-keep growing-remember that life is a school and for you it has only just begun. Don't sit at your desks-in your homes, I mean-blinking with a man at your side. Keep yourselves free-don't marry for m

te and angry, again light-hearted, mocking. She recalled how their leader had warned them against the bribery of men.

n. One week in New York and your eyes were glued to the

back to the letters and read them all through over again. She rose and walked slowly up and down w

ng else. I have had a shock-a terrible one. My sister Amy suddenly died. I am here now to care for her child. But am I? Nothing of the kind. The nurse does that and I do nothing. I just sit or walk about and scowl at what

erce good-bye, took it out and dropped it in the mail box in the hall. Then she came back to her own room, and with swift, determined jerks took off the black cloth wrapping of a large old-fashioned typewriter, one of th

k had been laboured and slow, and the lapse of months had thrown her out. "However! Something must be done!" And the pounding went on

stop being so soft! Y

're going to ea

ittle "prof" had given her, the "Life and Letters of George Sand"; and "The Work of Susan B. Anthony." And as Ethel pounded on, each book in its own way

my love, will be far

that struggled for self-confidence. And twice, although she had dressed herself with a keen and vigilant eye to her own attractiveness and had gone to the bureau she had selected, with a sinking heart she turned back from the door. But the second time, after leaving,

e woman had not appeared to care very much that Ethel had only one reference-from the old minister back at home; and the brief exhibition of her skill

ied to remember it all.

was

throat. "Well, I think I can handle myself on that point." She recalled with assurance recollections-and ther

oward a subway station, and so

that has got you this chance. All right, Face, thank you very much. If you

e of her future employer, she almost laughed in his fat round fac

and he loves

ttracted and easily caught. In fact, in his heavy-lidded eyes and about his thick lips came a look which repelled her a little. "I

while in a firm brisk tone of voice. "Of course I know

'll see." He sighed. "Ve'll see, my friend." He turned back to his

hungry, almost fierce in the way he snapped off his letters at times; again he was a genial soul, boasting to her of his success and giving forth shrewd homely proverbs that he had learned long ago as a child in some Galician village. But never in t

e said more than once. "Keep o

deals. Soon she would be ready to leave this funny little man and get a place of a different kind-as secretary, for instance, to some clever woman novelist or noted

n she informed him of what she had d

" he had replied. "Only-" he had scowled at her in a

t had set him thinking, hurt him. "She wants to get away," he had thought. Ethel had caught

the face. All right, Mr. Male Provider, your tender feelings will have to be hurt. There's nothing the

at night. Very well, let him sulk in his masculine way. Only one remark of his had a

had ended, "you're one in a

had set viciously. "You'll be telling me next that I got my position simply on my pretty face! No brains behind it, of course, n

kly. "You've got the makings of more r

nevertheless. So long as one had to live with a man, even

f course, but his real reason obviously was to have a look at her employer and at the same time show the man that she had a mal

f severity and even began to enjoy the glances which she knew were cast her way, on the streets and in the office. Even on old Greesheimer, when he was in one of h

ig glistening eyes nearly leaving their sockets. Then he whirled around in his chair, and as his eye lit on Ethel, he laughed, and in a harsh queer voice he cried, "Vell? Now you see? I'm rich alreatty, I'm vell off

ied, half laughing. "It's sim

Ha-ha-ha!" And the next instant, furious, she felt herself hugged violently, kissed! His lips! His fat soft bo

nd through the outer office. In the elevator crowded with men she felt a queer taste in her mouth. "That's blood," she t

at the door and then at the window, and upon his pudgy counte

like a rocket-off she goes!" And in Yiddish and in Hebrew and Russian an

n the launching of his business. For Greesheimer had a mother, an old uncle and a sister and two small nephews to support. But this Zimmerman contract, "Gott sei danke!" would clear the way for marriage at once. And as that glorious vision, of relatives all radiant and Sadie flushed and jo

n-a smart young fellah, y'understand. . . . Jewish? Yes! You betcher! No

y, those greedy lips and clutching hands, and out of her disgust and rage emerged another

ow can I tell the sheep from the goats? I thought I could. I thought I knew how to handle myself-I thought I knew how to get o

or all their hurry, some of the men shot glances at Ethel that made her burn. One tall thin man even stopped and turned and she felt his look travel right dow

o back to Joe-and hear h

d cry, which relieved her a little. And so, after an hour or two, looking steadily up at the ceiling, she decided that after a few

eared to her suddenly so strong and wise with its knowledge of life. She remembered Amy's smiles at all new "moveme

n't what you say to men, it's h

nd frowned, in a disillu