care for _me_?"

"I am your wife," she replied, her head drooping still lower. And
hesitatingly she drew away from me. That seemed confirmation of my doubt
and I said to her satirically, "You are willing to be my wife out of
gratitude, to put it politely?"

She looked straight into my eyes and answered, "I can only say there is no
one I like so well, and--I will give you all I have to give."

"Like!" I exclaimed contemptuously, my nerves giving way altogether. "And
you would be my _wife_! Do you want me to _despise_ you?" I
struck dead my poor, feeble hope that had been all but still-born. I rushed
from the room, closing the door violently between us.

Such was our housewarming.

XXX. BLACKLOCK OPENS FIRE

For what I proceeded to do, all sorts of motives, from the highest to the
basest, have been attributed to me. Here is the truth: I had already pushed
the medicine of hard work to its limit. It was as powerless against this
new development as water against a drunkard's thirst. I must find some new,
some compelling drug--some frenzy of activity that would swallow up my self
as the battle makes the soldier forget his toothache. This confession may
chagrin many who have believed in me. My enemies will hasten to say: "Aha,
his motive was even more selfish and petty than we alleged." But those who
look at human nature honestly, and from the inside, will understand how I
can concede that a selfish reason moved me to draw my sword, and still
can claim a higher motive. In such straits as were mine, some men of my
all-or-none temperament debauch themselves; others thresh about blindly,
reckless whether they strike innocent or guilty. I did neither.

Probably many will recall that long before the "securities" of the
reorganized coal combine were issued, I had in my daily letter to investors
been preparing the public to give them a fitting reception. A few days
after my whole being burst into flames of resentment against Anita, out
came the new array of new stocks and bonds. Roebuck and Langdon arranged
with the under writers for a "fake" four times over-subscription, indorsed
by the two greatest banking houses in the Street. Despite this often-tried
and always-good trick, the public refused to buy. I felt I had not been
overestimating my power. But I made no move until the "securities" began to
go up, and the financial reporters--under the influence where not actually
in the pay of the Roebuck-Langdon clique--shou