he loved her yet as he should; but he would.
She did not know that she wanted to interfere with the claims of his
wife. She did not think she did. But it would not hurt Mrs. Cowperwood
if Frank loved her--Aileen--also.

How shall we explain these subtleties of temperament and desire? Life
has to deal with them at every turn. They will not down, and the large,
placid movements of nature outside of man's little organisms would
indicate that she is not greatly concerned. We see much punishment in
the form of jails, diseases, failures, and wrecks; but we also see that
the old tendency is not visibly lessened. Is there no law outside of the
subtle will and power of the individual to achieve? If not, it is surely
high time that we knew it--one and all. We might then agree to do as we
do; but there would be no silly illusion as to divine regulation. Vox
populi, vox Dei.

So there were other meetings, lovely hours which they soon began to
spend the moment her passion waxed warm enough to assure compliance,
without great fear and without thought of the deadly risk involved. From
odd moments in his own home, stolen when there was no one about to see,
they advanced to clandestine meetings beyond the confines of the city.
Cowperwood was not one who was temperamentally inclined to lose his head
and neglect his business. As a matter of fact, the more he thought of
this rather unexpected affectional development, the more certain he was
that he must not let it interfere with his business time and judgment.
His office required his full attention from nine until three, anyhow. He
could give it until five-thirty with profit; but he could take several
afternoons off, from three-thirty until five-thirty or six, and no one
would be the wiser. It was customary for Aileen to drive alone almost
every afternoon a spirited pair of bays, or to ride a mount, bought
by her father for her from a noted horse-dealer in Baltimore. Since
Cowperwood also drove and rode, it was not difficult to arrange
meeting-places far out on the Wissahickon or the Schuylkill road. There
were many spots in the newly laid-out park, which were as free from
interruption as the depths of a forest. It was always possible that
they might encounter some one; but it was also always possible to make a
rather plausible explanation, or none at all, since even in case of such
an encounter nothing, ordinarily, would be suspected.

So, for the time being there was love-making, the