es began."

"You don't speak as if you loved her," the other said harshly. Was it
for this she had thrown herself away? Fortunately Emmet was too much
absorbed in himself to note the suppressed scorn and fury of his voice.

"I did n't get much chance for love, or much love from her, either," he
said bitterly. "She kept me just where I was before. What did I get?
A stolen interview and a kiss now and then, but plenty of advice and
books and plans. She put me up to running for mayor; I 'm bound to say
that. But she was n't to acknowledge me as her husband until I was
elected. That was the plan, and I was fool enough to agree to it. You
would n't believe it, but I did n't see her sometimes for weeks
together. Last winter she even sailed off to Europe as cool as a
cucumber, and left me alone to work out my salvation, as she called it.
I worked it out, too. I worked the union for all it was worth. I got
to be president and formed a secret league with the other unions, and
we captured the Democratic nomination before the opposition knew what
we were up to. All that took time and work, and gave me something to
think about besides my married life. But when I saw Felicity after
that, it was mostly to report progress and to get advice. God! It was
more like going to my teacher than to my wife, and the thing became
intolerable. She grew more mysterious to me all the time. She did n't
seem like a natural woman, and I could n't understand her at all. Then
I met the other woman at a lodge dance. I took her home and kissed her
at the gate, partly because she was a pretty girl, and partly because I
thought she expected it. I thought that would be the end of it, but it
was n't. You know how those things grow into something you did n't
expect. You can understand how I got in deeper and deeper, intending
to break away all the time. If you 're the man I take you to be, you
can't help understanding. You can't help seeing both sides of the
question, and how I gradually got mixed with this girl without meaning
any harm, until I discovered that we loved each other, and that my wife
had kept me waiting till she had killed the love I once had for her,
and the gratitude, too.

"The situation came to a head all at once. Just before the election,
this girl goes to work for Felicity, and while there she wears a ring I
let her have, which my wife had given me as a sort of kismet, or
talisman, as she called it. Felicity see