arlotta Wilson (she had never
found out who his paramour was), but all the evidence seemed to attest
it. There was a telephone down stairs in a drug store by which, during
his days on the _World_, Angela would call him up at any time, and
whenever she had called him up he was always in the office. He seemed to
have plenty of time to take her to the theatre if she wished to go, and
to have no especial desire to avoid her company. He had once told her
frankly that he did not propose to pretend to love her any more, though
he did care for her, and this frightened her. In spite of her wrath and
suffering she cared for him, and she believed that he still sympathized
with her and might come to care for her again--that he ought to.

She decided to play the role of the affectionate wife whether it was
true or not, and to hug and kiss him and fuss over him if he would let
her, just as though nothing had happened. Eugene did not understand
this. He did not see how Angela could still love him. He thought she
must hate him, having such just grounds, for having by dint of hard work
and absence come out of his vast excitement about Carlotta he was
beginning to feel that he had done her a terrific injustice and to wish
to make amends. He did not want to love her, he did not feel that he
could, but he was perfectly willing to behave himself, to try to earn a
good living, to take her to theatre and opera as opportunity permitted,
and to build up and renew a social relationship with others which should
act as a substitute for love. He was beginning to think that there was
no honest or happy solution to any affair of the heart in the world.
Most people so far as he could see were unhappily married. It seemed to
be the lot of mankind to make mistakes in its matrimonial selections. He
was probably no more unhappy than many others. Let the world wag as it
would for a time. He would try to make some money now, and restore
himself in the eyes of the world. Later, life might bring him
something--who could tell?

In the next place their financial condition, even before he left the
_World_, was so much better than it had been. By dint of saving and
scraping, refusing to increase their expenses more than was absolutely
necessary, Angela had succeeded by the time he left the _World_ in
laying by over one thousand dollars, and since then it had gone up to
three thousand. They had relaxed sufficiently so that now they were
wearing reasonably good cl