"I don"t see why it should be."
"Because you have a national position, one might even say an international position, and Mrs. Pyne hasn"t, and neither have I. If we do wrong, only our own little circles have to know about it, and the harm we can do is limited; but if you do wrong it hurts the whole country."
"I must say I don"t see that."
"You"re the wife of a man who might be called a national inst.i.tution--"
"There are just as important men in the country as he."
"Not many--let us say, at a venture, a hundred. Think of what it means to be one of the hundred most conspicuous women among a population of a hundred millions. The responsibility must be tremendous."
"I"ve never thought of myself as having any particular responsibility--not any more than anybody else."
"But, of course, you have. Whatever you do gets an added significance from the fact that you"re Mrs. Howard Brokenshire. When, for example, you came to me that day among the rocks at Newport, your kindness was the more wonderful for the simple reason that you were who you were. We can"t get away from those considerations. When you do right, right seems somehow to be made more beautiful; and when you do wrong--"
"I don"t think it"s fair to put me in a position like that."
"I don"t put you in that position. Life does it. You were born to be high up. When you fall, therefore--"
"Don"t talk about falling."
"But it would be a fall, wouldn"t it? Don"t you remember, some ten or twelve years ago, how a Saxon crown princess left her home and her husband? Well, all I mean is that because of her position her story rang through the world. However one might pity unhappiness, or sympathize with a miserable love, there was something in it that degraded her country and her womanhood. I suppose the poor thing"s inability to live up to a position of honor was a blow at human nature. Don"t you think that that was what we felt? And in your case--"
"You mustn"t compare me with her."
"No; I don"t--exactly. All I mean is that if--if you do what--what I think you"ve started out to do--"
She raised her head defiantly.
"And I"m going to."
"Then by the day after to-morrow there will not be a newspaper in the country that won"t be detailing the scandal. It will be the talk of every club and every fireside between the Atlantic and the Pacific, and Mexico and Montreal. It will be in the papers of London and Paris and Rome and Berlin, and there"ll be a week in which you"ll be the most discussed person in the world."
"I"ve been that already--almost--when Mr. Brokenshire made his attack in the Stock Exchange on--"
"But this would be different. In this case you"d be pointed at--it"s what it would amount to--as a woman who had gone over to all those evil forces in civilization that try to break down what the good forces are building up. You"d do like that unhappy crown princess, you"d strike a blow at your country and at all womanhood. There are thousands of poor tempted wives all over Europe and America who"ll say: "Well, if she can do such things--""
"Oh, stop!"
I stopped. It seemed to me that for the time being I had given her enough to think about. We sat silent, therefore, looking out at the rushing dark. People who drifted back from the dining-car glanced at us, but soon were dozing or absorbed in books.
We were nearing New London when she pointed to one of her bags and asked me if I would mind opening it. I welcomed the request as indicating a return of friendliness. Having extracted a parcel of sandwiches, she unfolded the napkin in which they were wrapped and held them out to me.
I took a pt de foie-gras and followed her example in nibbling it. On my own responsibility I summoned the porter and asked him to bring a bottle of spring-water and two gla.s.ses.
"I guess the old lady"s feelin" some better," he confided, when he had carried out the order.
We stopped at New London, and went on again. Having eaten three or four sandwiches, I declined any more, folding the remainder in the napkin and stowing them away. The simple meal we had shared together restored something of our old-time confidence.
"I"m going to do it," she sighed, as I put the bag back in its place.
"He"s--he"s somewhere on the train--in the smoking-car, I suppose.
He"s--he"s not to come for me till--till we"re getting near the Back Bay Station in Boston."
I brought out my question simply, though I had been pondering it for some time. "Who"ll tell Mr. Brokenshire?"
She moved uncomfortably.
"I don"t know. I haven"t made any arrangements. He"s in Newport for one or two nights, seeing to some small changes in the house. I--I had to take the opportunity while he was away." As if with a sudden inspiration she glanced round from staring out into the dark. "Would you do it?"
I shook my head.
"I couldn"t. I"ve never seen a man struck dead, and--"
She swung her chair so as to face me more directly.
"Why," she asked, trembling--"why do you say that?"
"Because, if I told him, it"s what I should have to look on at."
She began wringing her hands.
"Oh no, you wouldn"t."
"But I should. It would be his death-sentence at the least. It"s true he has probably received that already--"
"Oh, what are you saying? What are you talking about?"
"Only of what every one can see. He"s a stricken man--you"ve told me so yourself."
"Yes, but I said it only about Hugh. Lots of men have to go through troubles on account of their children."
"But when they do they can generally get comfort from their wives."
She seemed to stiffen.
"It"s not my fault if he can"t."
"No, of course not. But the fact remains that he doesn"t--and perhaps it"s the greatest fact of all. He adores you. His children may give him a great deal of anxiety but that"s the sort of thing any father looks for and can endure. Only you"re not his child; you"re his wife.
Moreover, you"re the wife whom he worships with a slavish idolatry.
Everything that nature and time and the world and wealth have made of him he gathers together and lays it down at your feet, contented if you"ll only give him back a smile. You may think it pitiful--"
She shuddered.
"I think it terrible--for me."
"Well, I may think so, too, but it"s his life we"re talking of. His tenure of that"--I looked at her steadily--"isn"t very certain as it is, do you think? You know the condition of his heart--you"ve told me yourself--and as for his nervous system, we"ve only to look at his face and his poor eye."
"I didn"t do that. It"s his whole life--"
"But his whole life culminates in you. It works up to you, and you represent everything he values. When he learns that you"ve despised his love and dishonored his name--"