She does not love him, or she would
have called to him as they passed.

So thinks David Lockwin, for he cannot see himself except as he once was.
People call him Chalmers when they address him, which is not more than
once a day, but it is like the salutation to Judge Wandrell. He does not
call himself "Judge" nor sign himself "Judge." "My dear judge," writes a
friend. "Your friend, H. M. H. Wandrell," answers the same man.

It is easy for David Lockwin to answer to the name of Robert Chalmers.
He has found it totally impossible to become Robert Chalmers in fact. He
is David Lockwin, disinherited--a picture of the prodigal son---but David
Lockwin in every bone and muscle--no one else.

Esther Lockwin has refused to know David Lockwin.

Sharp as may be his hurt at this event, he is, nevertheless, once more
recalled to the expediencies. If he shall be in hope of Esther, it would
be well to escape from a situation so dangerous.

"And I am poor! Why did I not think of that? It was easy to marry her,
because I was wealthy. I am a poor man now." He repeats it over and
over.

It would be well to hurry to New York and attend to that matter of the
Coal and Oil Trust Company institution. He could not go but for the
lover's hope of preparing something for the reunion.

Between Chicago and New York one may fall into a wide abyss of despair.
The late Honorable David Lockwin has tarried in Chicago, has assisted at
the public dedication of his own cenotaph, has visited the David Lockwin
Annex, has looked his own widow in the face. His pride is torn out by
the roots. A man once exalted is now humbled. And, added to the horrors
of his situation, every fiber of his body, every aspiration of his
spirit, proclaims his love of the woman who once wearied him.

His dilemma is dreadful without this catastrophe of love. He thanks the
fates that he is in love. It gives him business. He will not sell his
claim against the ruined bank. He will work as book-keeper. He will
wait and collect all. Patience shall be his motto. He will communicate
with Esther through a spiritual medium. He will--better yet--write to
her anonymously. Every day a type-written missive shall be sent to her.
He will have her! It is all possible!

"It is all easy!" David Lockwin says, and goes resolutely at work to save
the remnants of his fortune.

For a year he turns the inertia of his love into his daily business.
Esther is building at Chi