tion. But we only loved each other the more. And
the various exasperations of delay became hard to bear. Lucy, when
what seemed to her a reasonable time had passed, and Fulton had not yet
made up his mind about the divorce, was against delay. We had warned
Fulton we had played the game, why should we lose time to do so? I had
to argue with her against the next steamer for foreign parts, and to
persuade her (half persuade her) that in the long run patience would
serve us best. "Now," I said, "we don't feel that we need anyone but
ourselves. But we both love people--our own kind of people. If John
won't play fair (we called it that) our own kind of people will be on
our side, no matter what we do. But we should have John's word for it
that he is not going to play fair, before we take any drastic step."

The Fultons left Aiken, and after what seemed to me a decent delay of a
few days, I followed them to New York. John seemed further than ever
from coming to a decision, so Lucy thought. But she evinced a more
patient spirit. For the young woman with credit and a fondness for
clothes New York is a great solace, even if she is half broken-hearted.

"The contract with the Russian has gone through," she said; "John will
make a lot of money. I tell him that it's horrid to get rich by making
things that are used to kill people with, but he says there are too
many people in the world, and that most of them would be the better for
a little killing--so he's given me a fine credit, and I'm buying all
the clothes I need."

"Lucy, I don't think you ought to spend his money--any more than you
absolutely have to--considering."

"We spoke of that. He said I'd hurt him enough, and that while I was
still ostensibly his wife, he wished me to have all that he could give
me."

"While you are still ostensibly his wife? That sounds as if--Oh, as if
he was going to step out, Lucy, doesn't it?"

"Sometimes he talks as if it was all arranged. He says, 'Next year, if
you shouldn't happen to be with me, I'll do so and so,' and all that
sort of talk. At other times he talks of building a big house down on
Long Island--just the kind of house I've always wanted--just as if he
was sure that I would still be living with him."

Well, one day Fulton came to my hotel and sent up his card. I went
down to him as quickly as I could finish dressing. He said:

"Sorry to trouble you, but my time isn't quite my own. This seemed a
golden