SECOND 
 
 THOMPSON 
 BUCHANAN 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 HARRISON FISHER 
 
 Illustrations JD^- 
 
 W.W.FAWGETT 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 GROSSET 6 DUNLAP 
 
 PUBLISHERS.
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY 
 W. J. WATT & COMPANY 
 
 Published February
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE PICTUEE 
 
 THE library of John Chase's town house 
 was a beautiful room, a warm luxury glow- 
 ing from the silken draperies of red. Its 
 stately magnificence made a fitting frame for 
 the loveliness of the girl, who just now stood 
 high aloft on a step-ladder in a pose of uncon- 
 scious grace that showed to best advantage the 
 lithe roundness of the virginal form. At the 
 moment, she held her arms outstretched to the 
 utmost in the final, successful effort to adjust 
 according to her fancy a photograph swung by 
 a wire from the cornice. The picture, which 
 was evidently an enlarged reproduction, con- 
 tained two figures, a woman and a child. As 
 
 3 
 
 134589
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 a matter of fact, the photograph had been taken 
 some ten years before; and the child of nine, 
 shown there in a skinny awkwardness of im- 
 maturity, with a mop of tawny hair braided into 
 the distressful angularity of a pigtail, was the 
 juvenile caricature of Willa Chase herself, who 
 now, in the first flush of maidenly beauty, con- 
 templated this earlier self with a tolerant and 
 commiserating smile. 
 
 The little girl of the picture occupied a very 
 modest place indeed in the composition. Her 
 startled expression of face and a scrawny bit 
 of the body's outline were all that a discrimin- 
 ating photographer had left visible. The in- 
 telligent artist had so posed his subjects that 
 the woman, the mother, appeared full in the 
 camera's eye. Adorned with furs and a 
 plumed hat of sweeping brim, she was revealed 
 in detail as a woman of statuesque figure and 
 regular features, seated with impressive dig- 
 nity, albeit somewhat stiffly, on a high-backed 
 old Spanish chair. The observer perceived at 
 once that here was portrayed a woman of 
 
 5
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 ample self-assertion. Perhaps, if one were to 
 study the picture a bit captiously, the mouth 
 might be deemed a trifle too tightly drawn, a 
 trifle too hard for that gracious femininity 
 which her bountiful hair, her large and lively 
 eyes and her charmingly molded form so abun- 
 dantly displayed. 
 
 Willa Chase was not alone in her contempla- 
 tion of the photograph, which, at last, she had 
 succeeded in arranging on the wall according 
 to her taste. At the step-ladder's foot was 
 standing another girl, who looked on the scene 
 with a half -sarcastic smile woman, rather, it 
 were just to call her, for Edith Thomas's 
 debutante days were already something more 
 than a decade in the past. Yet, an exquisite 
 care of the person, which the present-day 
 femininity has learned from the study of 
 hygiene and physiological art as the allies of 
 beauty, had served to maintain in her a wonder- 
 ful freshness of wholesome and winsome youth. 
 No casual guesser of her age would have sus- 
 pected her to have passed beyond the early 
 
 6
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 twenties. Those, however, who observed her 
 intently and with a more sagacious scrutiny, 
 might have noted in the glance of her charming 
 eyes a certain keenness that was by no manner 
 of means characteristic of inexperienced maid- 
 enhood; and, too, she displayed in her manner 
 a piquant air of worldly wisdom that savored 
 mightily of maturity. As a matter of fact, 
 Miss Thomas had not lived her years stupidly. 
 It could not be justly said that she had merely 
 seen much: she had perceived a great deal, as 
 well. Even, in recent years, she had become 
 persistently reflective, and it is safe to assume 
 that, when this habit fixes on anyone, it affords 
 proof positive that first youth has flown. 
 
 The half -satirical smile deepened a little on 
 Miss Thomas's lips, as she regarded the flushed 
 face of the girl on the ladder, the determined 
 pout of the curving mouth, the resolute gleam 
 in the large, heavily lashed, violet eyes. Miss 
 Thomas's smile grew distinctly quizzical, as she 
 continued holding the step-ladder in a fashion 
 purely ornamental. She made no attempt to 
 
 7
 
 conceal the emotion provoked in her by the 
 occasion. On the contrary, now, she laughed 
 softly, and her lips had parted for speech, when 
 an interruption came. 
 
 Neither Willa nor her friend had given heed 
 to the entrance of a third woman into the room. 
 This person was attired in a black gown, and 
 the white cap and the apron which she wore 
 indicated her position in the household. Now, 
 on the instant when she became aware of the 
 picture before which her young mistress was 
 posed, she stared at it with open horror. When 
 the first paralysis of dismay had passed, she 
 threw up her hands in a gesture of despair; a 
 reproachful frown drew her brows, as she 
 turned indignantly toward the girl on the step- 
 ladder. 
 
 "Why, why, Miss Willa!" she cried; and the 
 distress in her thin voice was poignant. "Oh, 
 Miss Willa, surely you are not hanging your 
 mother's picture oh, not here, right here in 
 your father's own house?" 
 
 Willa displayed no least trace of amazement 
 8
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 at the propounding of a question seemingly so 
 opposed to marital ethics. She merely con- 
 descended to glance back at the speaker toler- 
 antly, although there was something more than 
 a hint of annoyance in her tones, as she an- 
 swered briskly : 
 
 ''Of course, I am hanging my mother's pic- 
 ture," she declared. ''And pray tell me, if 
 you can, why I should not." 
 
 "Well, Miss Willa," the old servant replied 
 severely, "you know it was hid away very care- 
 ful in the attic, so's to be out of harm's way." 
 
 "To be sure," the girl agreed. The note of 
 annoyance was gone from the young voice, now. 
 Her sense of humor had restored the elastic 
 spirits to their accustomed level of careless 
 gaiety. "Yes, that's where I got it. I'll admit 
 that it was well hidden away. It took me just 
 two hours of hard hunting through all the odds 
 and ends of the universe. Messy old place, the 
 attic!" 
 
 The old servant shook her head dolefully, as 
 if presaging unnamable disasters that must re- 
 
 9
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 suit from her mistress's indiscretion. She was 
 about to put some part of her protest into 
 words, when her purpose was forestalled by 
 Miss Thomas, who interrupted vivaciously, a 
 smile of mirth bending her delicately molded 
 lips. 
 
 "Why, of course, she's hanging her mother's 
 picture, Maria. And, indeed, what reason is 
 there why she shouldn't? Yes, just think of 
 it it will be such a pleasant surprise for Mr. 
 Chase, when he returns, and comes upon it un- 
 expectedly." The speaker's smile deepened, 
 and dainty lines creased at the corners of the 
 clear eyes. "You know, Maria, there is noth- 
 ing in the world that is quite so gratifying to 
 a man as to come back home to find the picture 
 of his divorced wife hanging amiably on the 
 wall of the library, after he has carefully con- 
 signed it to retirement in the farthest corner of 
 the attic." 
 
 The servant nodded an emphatic assent to the 
 sarcasm. 
 
 "Sure, Miss, I know he'll like it oh, yes!" 
 10
 
 THE SECOND WIPE 
 
 Her voice rang with a note of half -melancholy 
 mockery as she made agreement. "Yes, I 
 guess I know just how much he'll like to see 
 it there. I'm thinking he'll fall down dead in 
 a fit, when he catches the first glimpse of it 
 there, and then I '11 be looking on myself always 
 as his murderer, for not having the spunk to 
 take it down before he comes." 
 
 Willa had descended the step-ladder the while 
 the old woman spoke thus frankly. Now, she 
 paused at its foot, regarding Maria with eyes 
 in which indignation smoldered, ready to flare 
 into a flame of wrath. 
 
 "Please, remember, Maria," she said in- 
 cisively, "that when you speak of that photo- 
 graph you speak of my mother. ' ' 
 
 The woman, however, failed to be duly im- 
 pressed by the dignified rebuke. Instead, she 
 sniffed with open contempt, and her gaze met 
 that of the girl squarely, aggressively. 
 
 "Mother, indeed!" she repeated; and there 
 was a world of commiseration sounding in the 
 thin voice, and her eyes softened a little. 
 
 11
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Sure, I've been your mother for the past ten 
 years ever since she " she waved her hand 
 toward the photograph "ever since your real 
 mother went off, and married Mr. Hendrix 
 the old pirate ! ' ' 
 
 "Dear me!" Miss Thomas remarked, with 
 an assumption of being horrified by the vehe- 
 ment speech. "What a term to apply to that 
 estimable gentleman! Eemember, Maria," she 
 added, with an imitation of the manner in which 
 the girl had spoken a moment before, ' ' that you 
 are speaking thus disrespectfully of one of the 
 most important and richest men in the city of 
 New York." 
 
 The servant stretched forth a gaunt hand, 
 in a gesture of scorn that was not without a 
 certain rude dignity of its own; and the dull 
 eyes, which had softened for a little, grew hard 
 again, as she spoke. 
 
 "Sure, Miss Edith," she agreed; and her 
 tone was bitter. "Yes, and we could all be 
 rich, if we could contrive to keep out of jail, 
 no matter what we might be doing of, the way 
 
 12
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 he can. It don't matter what it is to that man. 
 He can steal money, or men's wives; and it's 
 all the same to him, and nobody does anything 
 to put a stop to his carryings-on. Tut! tut!" 
 she remonstrated, as Willa would have spoken. 
 "Why, you can't tell me anything about Mr. 
 Hendrix. I know enough about him, and the 
 likes of him, from what I read on either the 
 front page or the back page of the poor 
 folks' Bible. Sure, he's always in the big 
 type!" 
 
 "Maria!" Willa cried, in quick indignation 
 before this denunciation of the man whose lot 
 her mother had elected to share. "I forbid 
 you to speak of Mr. Hendrix in that manner in 
 my presence." The girl uttered the command 
 with a certain assumption of dignity that be- 
 came her well. But, now, as she concluded, the 
 sternness of her attitude relaxed in a measure, 
 and a note of entreaty was audible in the soft 
 voice. "And, Maria, you must not say any- 
 thing in any way to reflect on my mother you 
 must not ! My father himself never does not 
 
 13
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 a word." Her inflection seemed to convey the 
 idea that her father's position in the matter 
 as the one person most concerned left no right 
 to any other to protest, since he did not. 
 
 But the servant was not impressed to the 
 extent expected by Willa, if at all. 
 
 ''Sure, and why should he be saying any- 
 thing?" she demanded, pugnaciously. She ap- 
 peared wholly impervious to the signs of 
 displeasure displayed by the girl. It was evi- 
 dent that her sympathies were warmly engaged 
 in behalf of her master, and that she had no 
 esteem whatsoever for the course pursued by 
 her former mistress, who had abandoned mari- 
 tal obligations for the sake of another man. 
 "The divorce made it all plain. Your pa's got 
 the kid. Well, that's all there is to it, I'm 
 thinking. In divorce cases, the one that keeps 
 the kids is generally in the right. That 's what 
 the judge says." 
 
 Miss Thomas felt that the conversation had 
 gone far enough, and she endeavored to divert 
 the old woman's attention from the unpleasant 
 
 14
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 topic. With this laudable purpose, she smiled 
 engagingly, and began: 
 
 "Maria is a philosopher " 
 
 "I don't know nothing about philosophers," 
 interrupted the servant tartly. "But, Miss 
 Edith, I was Mrs. Hendrix's maid when she 
 was Mrs. Chase, and, as long as keyholes is 
 keyholes, servants will have chances a-plenty 
 to learn all they need to about all the goings-on 
 in the house, and you can take your affidavit 
 on that, any day in the week. And so I tell 
 you, Miss Edith, the fact is that Mr. Chase him- 
 self never wanted a divorce that was the last 
 thing he'd have thought of. No, it was Mrs. 
 Chase was the one that wanted it. And, be- 
 cause she wanted her freedom, she was willing 
 to give up her daughter. That was the condi- 
 tion of his letting her have the divorce. She 
 was willing to give up her own child, just so's 
 she would be free to marry Mr. Hendrix. Two 
 days after the court set her free, she married 
 Mr. Hendrix. And there you are!" 
 
 While the denunciation was in progress, 
 15
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Willa stood tapping one slippered toe rapidly 
 against the polished floor. The dainty rose of 
 her cheeks had deepened into the red of anger, 
 but she knew the woman's tenacious loyalty to 
 her father, as well as to herself, and she real- 
 ized that she was quite powerless to stem the 
 impetuous outburst. But, as a halt came at 
 last, she felt it the part of dignity to utter 
 another rebuke. 
 
 "That will do, Maria," she commanded 
 haughtily. 
 
 The servant accepted the decree without any 
 protest whatsoever, for she had said all she had 
 to say at the moment concerning the affairs of 
 the family. 
 
 "Can I do anything for you, Miss Willa?" 
 she questioned, with a manner of bland affabil- 
 ity. 
 
 "You may take the step-ladder away," Willa 
 directed. She strove to speak coolly, but her 
 voice quivered a little. The scene through 
 which she had just passed had tried her nerves 
 sorely, for she cherished an ideal affection for 
 
 16
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 her mother, which was doubtless more dominat- 
 ing in her life than would have been a fondness 
 constantly worn upon by the frictions of every- 
 day, intimate association with an ambitious and 
 wholly worldly woman. 
 
 Maria obediently took up the step-ladder, and 
 started from the room with it. But, at the 
 door, she paused, and spoke once more, em- 
 phasizing her words with a nod of the head 
 toward that photograph of the mother and child 
 which now, after the lapse of years, had at last 
 been restored to a place of honor in the home 
 by the well-meant, if ill-directed, filial piety of 
 the daughter. 
 
 4 'Sure, Miss," the servant said, grimacing a 
 little, "I'm not wishing you any bad luck, but 
 I'm hoping the picture tumbles down. That's, 
 my wish for it, and I might as well be honest 
 about it." 
 
 Willa did not condescend any reply to this 
 final bit of impertinence toward her mother, 
 and the old woman bore off the step-ladder in 
 triumph. 
 
 17
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 But Miss Thomas was not disposed to be ret- 
 icent concerning the affair. 
 
 "Why do you let her talk to you in that 
 astonishing way!" she demanded. There was 
 a hint of reproof in her tone, and more than a 
 hint of amusement. Indeed, the interview had 
 entertained her hugely. 
 
 The young girl made an impulsive gesture of 
 helplessness, which was almost pathetic. 
 
 "Oh, Edith," she exclaimed distressedly, "I 
 simply can't be harsh with her. It's true, you 
 see, that she really did most of my bringing up. 
 Why, she even used to spank me. I suppose, 
 like enough, I deserved it. Perhaps, even, I 
 deserved more than I got. Well, somehow, af- 
 ter a person has once spanked you, you can't 
 order her about." 
 
 Miss Thomas burst into a peal of laughter, 
 and nodded vigorous assent. 
 
 "Yes, yes; I know just how it is," she agreed. 
 "When I reached your age, I made mother fire 
 my maid. I never dared well, I couldn't sit 
 down comfortably in her presence, and that's 
 
 18
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 a fact. The act recalled certain memories, 
 certain sensations not exactly pleasant for a 
 young lady on her dignity as a debutante, like 
 myself. So, Nora had to go. She was a good 
 maid, but the association of ideas spoiled her 
 usefulness from my point of view." The 
 speaker's eyes went again to the picture that 
 had served as the bone of contention between 
 Willa and the servant, and she changed the 
 subject abruptly. "You were a skinny little 
 gawk then, weren't you, dear?" she questioned 
 carelessly. 
 
 But Willa received this description of her 
 juvenile appearance with much disfavor, and 
 forgot her manners so far as to contradict, 
 flatly. 
 
 "I was not!" she declared, curtly. "What 
 an absurd idea!" Then, as she studied the 
 picture, indignation died, and in its stead came 
 a rush of self-pity. She was swayed to a 
 sudden, keen commiseration for that pictured 
 child there, neglected then, afterward left 
 alone by the handsome woman, who had chosen 
 
 19
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 to desert husband and daughter at the call of 
 worldly pride, who had voluntarily abandoned 
 the home that was merely well-to-do, in order 
 to become mistress of the many magnificent 
 Hendrix establishments, the mansion in town, 
 the castle in the country, the Adirondack lodge, 
 the Newport cottage, together with all that 
 these entailed of luxurious living and of social 
 prestige. 
 
 20
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 A MODERN CHILD 
 
 WILLA CHASE was, in truth, very, very 
 young. She was by far too young to 
 have reflected with efficient purpose on the 
 curious position into which she had been thrown 
 by the legal grind of the divorce mill ; too young 
 to see in herself a type of the ultra modern, 
 and, too, despite all the circumstances that 
 tended to mitigate her condition, a piteously 
 placed child of ill fortune; too young to be- 
 hold in herself the miserable half-orphan of 
 the law's decree. In the ten years of her life 
 just past, years of the utmost importance to her 
 in the plastic impressionability of the adoles- 
 cent, she had had none save her father to whom 
 to turn for intimate guidance. Often and 
 often, his companionship failed her need, 
 
 21
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 through no fault of his. The multitudinous 
 crises of girlhood require the sympathy of a 
 woman for their adequate direction. Mr. 
 Chase did his best, for he was a man of sense 
 and of sensibility, and he loved his daughter 
 devotedly. Unhappily, the limitations of sex 
 shut him out from his child's confidence, where 
 help was most essential to her well-being. In 
 those emergencies in which she craved the un- 
 derstanding and kindliness that only woman, 
 can give to woman, Willa was compelled to go 
 her way alone and uncomforted, or to turn for 
 such measure of relief as might be offered by 
 the wholly willing, but wholly incompetent, old 
 servant, Maria. Naturally, then, this girl, bud- 
 ding into the flower of womanhood, had been 
 curiously lonely often, as no child should ever 
 be lonely. Yet, through all the sadness and 
 the difficulties that encompassed her youth, she 
 had never thought to blame the mother who 
 had so ruthlessly put her aside, since she stood 
 in the path of ambition. On the contrary, 
 Willa had let her imagination extol the absent 
 
 23
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 woman. She cherished an ideal that was alto- 
 gether admirable, but altogether untrue to the 
 facts. It could not be said that she loved her 
 mother, for the association between them had 
 been severed too early to permit aught on which 
 to build such feeling of genuine tenderness in 
 the child. But she regarded the renegade 
 parent with loyal admiration, and she was 
 deeply impressed by the social achievements of 
 Mrs. Hendrix. It would, indeed, have been re- 
 markable, had the result been otherwise, inas- 
 much as Willa was a girl possessed of alert 
 mind and a vivid fancy. Almost daily, the 
 newspapers gave space to descriptions of func- 
 tions wherein her mother was celebrated as a 
 leader of society ; numberless times, she studied 
 with fond pride the portraits in the newspapers 
 and the magazines, of the handsome, stately 
 woman. 
 
 But, just now, there was no feeling of pride 
 and exultation over the absent mother, as the 
 girl slowly crossed the library, and stood 
 quietly for a little, looking out upon the passers- 
 
 24
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 by in the street, with unseeing eyes. In this 
 moment, there came to her, for perhaps the first 
 time, a realization of the strange and evil situa- 
 tion in which her mother's selfishness had 
 placed her, from which there could be no escape. 
 It occurred to her that the future promised 
 difficulties beyond any the past had known, that 
 there awaited complications of which as yet she 
 could not surmise the nature, sinister conse- 
 quences still to grow from out the tangle that 
 divorce had twisted about the life of a child. 
 
 The trend of the girl's thought was empha- 
 sized and brought home by the casual words 
 of Miss Thomas: 
 
 "Oh, by the way, Jack Hendrix has offered 
 to paint my portrait. Jack has opened a stu- 
 dio, you know. That's his latest freak!" 
 
 "What! Jack Hendrix has a studio?" 
 Willa exclaimed. A warm flush touched her 
 cheeks; a tender smile curved the scarlet of 
 her lips. 
 
 "Yes," Miss Thomas answered, carelessly, 
 without perceiving the emotion that surged in 
 
 25
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 the girl. "You see, we might call it 'Jack's 
 Excuse/ The fact is that Jack was awfully 
 anxious to paint Clara's portrait, but " 
 
 "Yes go on," Willa urged, as her visitor 
 paused, to smile with reminiscent enjoyment. 
 
 "Well," Miss Thomas resumed, "the trouble 
 in the way of the project was that Clara's 
 mother knew Jack. Of course, that knowledge 
 settled her attitude toward any plan of portrait- 
 painting. ' ' 
 
 "Why, Edith!" Willa cried, reproachfully. 
 There was an indignant sparkle now in the 
 limpid eyes. 
 
 Miss Thomas lifted her eyebrows in mild as- 
 tonishment at the sincerity of feeling in the 
 girl's remonstrance, and her gaze met the 
 other's. 
 
 "Oh," she said easily, "I suppose, perhaps, 
 you have some right to stare at me with a flare 
 in your eyes. I suppose you are some sort of 
 a relation, in a roundabout way. Since you 
 and Jack have the same mother, after a fashion 
 of speaking, that fact must make you related. 
 
 26
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 However, that doesn't alter the truth of the 
 matter, which is that your father regards this 
 lively young man in just about the way Clara's 
 mother does." 
 
 "What do you mean, Edith!" 
 
 "Why, just conclusions I have drawn from 
 the circumstances that have come under my 
 observation. 4 For example, I don't think that 
 I have ever run across Jack here at dinner, at 
 such times as your father chanced to be in 
 town and dining at home. ... Of course, 
 there's a possibility that my memory may be at 
 fault." 
 
 Willa frowned disapproval of the charge thus 
 brought against her ; but the flush in her cheeks 
 grew more vivid, swiftly. 
 
 "Papa is horribly prejudiced in some re- 
 spects," she declared. 
 
 Miss Thomas shrugged her shoulders, in in- 
 dication of an unbiased indifference. 
 
 "And yet," she remarked, with a smile that 
 was almost cynical, "I'm inclined to suspect 
 that, if I were a man, and my worst enemy mar- 
 
 27
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 ried my wife, two days after the divorce was 
 granted, I might feel a bit of prejudice against 
 this particular man. It may be, too, that my 
 bitterness might run so far as to hold somewhat 
 against this man's son to such an extent, even, 
 that I shouldn't be pleased to have him philan- 
 dering around my daughter very much." 
 
 Before this direct attack, Willa realized that 
 discretion might be .the better part of valor. 
 Therefore, she maintained silence concerning 
 the point in casuistry thus raised, the while her 
 glances roved the room uneasily. Then, her 
 eyes came to a rest on the photograph that 
 she had rescued from the oblivion of the 
 
 attic, and at once she laughed with genuine 
 
 i 
 
 merriment. 
 
 1 1 It will be a surprise to papa when he comes 
 home, and finds that picture hanging there 
 such a surprise!" 
 
 "Yes, probably," Miss Thomas agreed, and 
 she, too, laughed, but somewhat doubtfully, as 
 if she were hardly certain as to the agreeable 
 nature of the astonishment destined for Mr. 
 
 28
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Chase. "Yes, it will be a surprise, beyond any 
 question. But I'm afraid he won't have much 
 pleasure from his surprise." 
 
 "Anyhow, after all," Willa argued, "she is 
 my mother." 
 
 "I have no intention of disagreeing with you 
 as to that fact," Miss Thomas admitted plac- 
 idly. "Unfortunately, however, after the court 
 has given you into the custody of your father, 
 you can't go traipsing about under this mother's 
 chaperonage; not even in our blessed city of 
 New York, where most things are possible. I 
 believe I'm right in thinking that your mother 
 has approached you with some such plan. 
 Hasn't she?" 
 
 The girl nodded affirmatively. 
 
 "Well, dear, believe me," Miss Thomas con- 
 tinued, with more earnestness, "it would never 
 do -never! When all's said and done, the fact 
 remains that we must be conservative, to some 
 extent at least. Now, for all practical pur- 
 poses, you see, you might just as well have been 
 born in an incubator. 
 
 29
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Willa bounded from her chair, then sank back 
 again limply. 
 
 "Edith!" she remonstrated, weakly. "You 
 are plain horrid. An incubator!" 
 
 Miss Thomas preserved the amiability of her 
 usual charming smile, but an expression of 
 earnestness had crept into the brown depths of 
 her eyes, and there was a sympathetic note of 
 kindliness in her voice as she went on speak- 
 ing: 
 
 "Why don't you make your father marry 
 again?" she suggested. "I know that Mr. 
 Chase would do anything in the world for you, 
 Willa." She paused for a moment; and then 
 added, softly as if in self-communion. * * I won- 
 der if he's really shy with women, or if he's 
 just hard to please, or if he just doesn't 
 care." 
 
 Something in the manner of the speech, 
 rather than in the precise significance of the 
 words themselves, caught the girl's attention, 
 and held it. For a brief minute, Willa pon- 
 dered, with the snowy whiteness of her brow 
 
 30
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 wrinkled in puzzled thought. Then, a sudden 
 instinct told her the reason for this visitor's 
 presence there with her and the trend of this 
 talk concerning her father's marriage. 
 
 " Edith!" she cried, aghast. There was a 
 note of rising anger in the girl's voice, and her 
 eyes began to glow dangerously. 
 
 "How would you like me for a mother?" 
 the visitor questioned, gently. She was well 
 schooled in the social art of concealing her emo- 
 tions under any and all circumstances, but in 
 this crisis she felt the color burning in her 
 cheeks, and her gaze fell abashed before the 
 lively wrath that showed clearly in the girl's 
 expression. 
 
 Willa, evidently, was not minded to be reti- 
 cent concerning the outrageous proposition to 
 which she had just listened. Her voice quiv- 
 ered with anger as she finally began to 
 speak. 
 
 "Edith," she cried, "I've a good mind to 
 to " She halted, groping helplessly for an 
 adequate word. 
 
 31
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 ''Shake me!" Miss Thomas suggested, with 
 the utmost blandness in her softly modulated 
 tones. 
 
 "Yes, shake you!" "Willa stormed. 
 
 But, now, Miss Thomas had recovered full 
 control of herself. Her clear laughter rang out 
 a cheery protest against the girl's intensity. 
 
 "Why must you take everything so seriously, 
 Willa?" she demanded, mockingly. "You'll 
 tear your feelings to tatters before you're 
 settled in life, if you don't watch out. Besides, 
 emotions lead to wrinkles, and wrinkles are the 
 worst disaster to a woman." 
 
 In the presence of this badinage, Willa felt 
 herself helpless, and she remained silent, 
 though still fuming inwardly. Under Miss 
 Thomas's skilful manipulation, calm returned 
 to the girl little by little, until, presently, she 
 was able to smile again, though artificially. 
 Then, and not until then, did the visitor choose 
 to revert to the subject of Mr. Chase's second 
 marriage. 
 
 32
 
 CHAPTER in 
 
 THE APPEABANCE OP MB. HENDBIX 
 
 IT needed no close inspection to perceive 
 that Willa remained angry. She was ob- 
 viously indignant over the mere suggestion that 
 her father might marry again. The idea that 
 the absolute sway with which she had ruled his 
 heart for so many years might be broken by the 
 advent of a step-mother came to the girl with 
 the shock of a surprise at once totally unex- 
 pected and totally repulsive. Her resentment 
 in the face of the proposition was clearly shown 
 in the drawn lips and flashing eyes and mantling 
 flush. Miss Thomas, being a woman of discre- 
 tion, had decided that this was no fit occasion 
 for exploiting her secret matrimonial purposes. 
 On the instant, she had diplomatically changed 
 her manner in such wise as to give the impres- 
 sion that she had but jested in mentioning a 
 
 33
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 subject that so distressed her friend. So, pres- 
 ently, she laughed lightly, in her usual musical 
 fashion, and spoke gaily : 
 
 "Well, then," she exclaimed, with a note of 
 mock-resignation in her voice, "if I can't have 
 him, I can still continue to admire him from a 
 respectful distance. Eeally, Willa, there's no 
 other man whom I admire half so much as I do 
 your father. You don 't appreciate by any man- 
 ner of means what a treasure he is." 
 
 The girl was appeased quickly by the seem- 
 ing candor of the speaker. The frown passed 
 from her brows, and the tense lines of the mouth 
 relaxed. In a moment, the half-insolent smile 
 of youth in its pride curved her lips. 
 
 "He appreciates me," she said, demurely. 
 
 "Father has told me that Mr. Chase was al- 
 ways an optimist," Miss Thomas remarked, 
 amusedly. 
 
 "Tell me," Willa commanded. 
 
 "They went to school together, you know," 
 the older woman continued, reminiscently ; 
 "your father, my father, and Mr. Hendrix. 
 
 34
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Mr. Hendrix wasn't too scrupulous, even as 
 early in life as that. He used to buy examina- 
 tion papers." 
 
 Willa straightened in her chair, with a move- 
 ment of consternation. The power and the 
 wealth of this man had made much appeal to 
 her naive imagination, and, too, there was about 
 him a certain romantic glamour, since he had 
 been able to win her mother. Now, this revela- 
 tion as to the dishonest nature of the magnate 
 in his boyhood shocked her by the abrupt shat- 
 tering of an ideal. 
 
 "To buy examination papers ?" she repeated, 
 incredulously. "You mean, to cheat?" 
 
 Miss Thomas nodded an affirmative. 
 
 "Yes, indeed," she declared. "Why, your 
 father licked him for it once. Didn't he ever 
 tell you about it?" 
 
 "Not a word." 
 
 "It's an interesting story, all right. You 
 ought to hear dad tell it! You see, all three 
 of them were in love with your mother, even as 
 far back as their schooldays." 
 
 35
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "All three of them!" Willa exclaimed, with 
 profound interest. 
 
 "Yes," Miss Thomas affirmed, with a nod for 
 emphasis. "And she must have been a beauty 
 then. Thank heaven, dad was homely and red- 
 headed! So, he was soon out of the running. 
 Then, the story of how your father thrashed 
 Mr. Hendrix got out, and the reason for it, and 
 public opinion was such that your mother had 
 no us for the cheat. That left only your 
 father still in the lists. I suspect that your 
 mother had a change of heart later on in life, 
 when she came to realize that Mr. Hendrix 's 
 method of passing his examination was merely 
 an early outbreak of the same kind of genius 
 that has made him a master in high finance." 
 
 But Willa was not minded to regard these 
 revelations in any frivolous spirit. The pass- 
 ing of fond illusions was sharply painful to her 
 sensitive heart. 
 
 "Do you mean to say," she now demanded 
 intensely, "that mother knew the facts that 
 mother really knew he cheated?" 
 
 36
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Why, of course," Miss Thomas declared, 
 placidly. She was thoroughly enjoying this in- 
 timate gossip with the girl concerning subjects 
 of such interest. "Everybody knew about the 
 affair at the time. He wasn't rich then; so, of 
 course, nobody had the slightest hesitation in 
 calling the thing by its right name. ' ' 
 
 Willa vouchsafed no comment on this bald 
 statement, although Miss Thomas paused as if 
 in expectation of some response. The girl sat 
 staring intently at the pattern of the rug with 
 unseeing eyes, the while she contemplated dis- 
 mally the fact that this contemptible action had 
 characterized the past of the man who had mar- 
 ried her mother. Her own instinctive ideal 
 caused her to revolt against the course of a 
 woman who could voluntarily choose as hus- 
 band a man thus dishonorable in preference to 
 her sterlingly honorable father, against whose 
 integrity none had ever uttered the least whis- 
 per. 
 
 A diversion was offered in the person of old 
 Maria, who appeared in the doorway, and at- 
 
 37
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 tracted attention by a monitory cough. Willa 
 aroused herself from the fit of melancholy ab- 
 straction, and turned her eyes on the servant. 
 
 "What is it, Maria?" she inquired, indiffer- 
 ently. 
 
 "Mr. Hendrix has called," the old woman an- 
 nounced, with an air of importance. 
 
 Willa sprang to her feet impulsively. Once 
 again, the warm blood surged in her cheeks. 
 The sadness that marked her expression a mo- 
 ment before had vanished. In its stead was 
 a lively cheerfulness in the shining eyes and in 
 the curving crimson of the lips. Then, suddenly 
 making an effort toward discretion as she 
 realized that the eyes of both Miss Thomas and 
 the servant were fixed upon her with feminine 
 curiosity, she spoke with an assumption of 
 casual interrogation: 
 
 "Mr. Jack Hendrix?" she questioned. But 
 there was no doubt in her inflection. 
 
 "No, Miss," came the astonishing answer; 
 "it's Mr. Hendrix the father." 
 
 Willa stiffened in the extreme of amazement. 
 38
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Such, a visit was extraordinary beyond belief. 
 Miss Thomas, too, appeared astounded by the 
 event. Maria smirked contentedly over the 
 sensation her announcement had created. 
 
 "To see me?" the girl demanded, in puzzled 
 dismay. 
 
 "He's come to tell you that you're to let his 
 precious Jack alone, I suppose," Miss Thomas 
 suggested. Again, her laughter rang out. 
 
 Maria smiled in sympathetic enjoyment. 
 
 "He asked for Mr. Chase first," she ex- 
 plained. "I told him the master wasn't at 
 home. So, then, he asked to see you, Miss 
 Willa." 
 
 "Very well, Maria," the wondering girl said. 
 "You may show him up." 
 
 Miss Thomas turned to Willa as the servant 
 left the room. 
 
 "Your father's been West for three months, 
 hasn't he?" she asked. 
 
 "Yes, for three months, and a little more. 
 I positively refused to go out there with him, 
 and to be cooped up in a little forsaken country 
 
 39
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 village for all that while. It's all about his lat- 
 est invention something about steel and elec- 
 tricity. The one makes the other, somehow; 
 the other makes the one, or something. Do you 
 understand?" 
 
 "Oh, certainly/' replied Miss Thomas, with 
 a smile. "It seems quite simple, doesn't it? 
 And it's very interesting." 
 
 "Mr. Hendrix," announced the voice of 
 Maria from the door. 
 
 Willa looked up with a swift, eager scrutiny 
 at the man who now advanced toward her, for 
 until this instant she had never seen him. His 
 pictured face and form had been made familiar 
 to her in the newspapers and magazines, but 
 these, she knew, must fail in adequate inter- 
 pretation of a personality as forceful as his. 
 Now, at last, she saw face to face the man who 
 had thrust her father from his rightful place, 
 the man who by some potent spell had won her 
 mother from her home. Now, into her very 
 presence, was come this colossus of the money 
 realm, by whose magic her mother had been 
 
 40
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 transplanted from modest affluence into a life 
 of the most gorgeous luxury, a life of supreme 
 importance from the standpoint of fashion. 
 This man was a magician in the world of af- 
 fairs, dominant, irresistible. Moreover, he in 
 his enormous strength had mastered her 
 mother, who herself was strong in character 
 and in power of will. . . . There was, as 
 well, another demand for attention in this per- 
 sonality here introduced into her presence: 
 Mr. Hendrix, as it chanced by some mocking 
 quirk of fate, was the father of a son, Jack. 
 And the heart of the girl confessed in secret to 
 an interest in this young man that was apart 
 from, and beyond, the pseudo-fraternal relation 
 imposed by the law's vagaries. Indeed, this 
 visitor loomed before her as the very arbiter 
 of destiny, who had robbed her of a mother, who 
 might yet give her a lover to assuage that 
 loss. . . . And this was the cheat whom her 
 father had thrashed ! 
 
 42
 
 CHAPTEE IV 
 
 FATHER AND SON 
 
 THE figure presented by Mr. Hendrix was 
 an imposing one, as he now stood gazing 
 with cold, gray eyes at John Chase's daughter. 
 His form was tall, and it appeared robust be- 
 yond the average of the business man. But the 
 face was characterized by a flabbiness that em- 
 phasized the largeness of the somewhat uneven 
 features, and the skin was of an unwholesome 
 pallor. The closely cropped mustache of gray 
 revealed almost bloodless lips, tightly set as if 
 in a habit of unrelaxing purpose toward domina- 
 tion. A skilful tailor had used his best en- 
 deavors to modify and to conceal the rather 
 unwieldy bulk of the financier's body. The cut 
 and set of the rich, dark material of the suit 
 gave a certain touch of external elegance to the 
 
 43
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 whole appearance; but this was offset by the 
 capitalist's personal fondness for conspicuous 
 adornment, which was exhibited in massive ar- 
 ticles of jewelry a big cluster of diamonds in 
 the scarf, a huge ring set with emeralds and 
 diamonds on his little finger, a flaunting orna- 
 ment on the watch-chain that crossed the waist- 
 coat. 
 
 Mr. Hendrix nodded his head curtly, in a 
 greeting of scant formality. 
 
 "Glad to meet you, Miss Chase/' he re- 
 marked, with an amiable inflection, but 
 brusquely. "I used to know your father very 
 well." 
 
 Somehow, the whole manner of the man was 
 of a sort to excite a lively sense of antagonism 
 in the girl whom he addressed. Now that the 
 first flutter of the excitement aroused by the 
 unexpectedness of the visit had passed, she 
 found herself entirely self-possessed, but with 
 a strong feeling of repulsion against the man 
 whose life had so vitally touched her own. 
 
 "I never heard my father speak of you," was 
 44
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 all the answer she vouchsafed to the visitor's 
 statement ; and the tone of the utterance was by 
 no means affable. 
 
 Miss Thomas interposed suavely, with a 
 subtle malice, for she was thoroughly enjoying 
 the curious situation that had arisen. 
 
 "Perhaps, though, Willa," she remarked, 
 "you have heard of Mr. Hendrix through your 
 mother. ' ' Her smile pointed the words. 
 
 The girl flushed hotly; but, in the end, she 
 tilted her chin haughtily, and nodded in assent. 
 As to the visitor, however, he displayed no least 
 hint of the embarrassment that must have as- 
 sailed a person of more delicate susceptibilities 
 before an allusion so intimate. 
 
 "Yes, exactly," he said blandly; "just so 
 through your mother, of course." He turned 
 with a ponderous smile toward the woman who 
 had made the suggestion, and recognized her 
 for the first time. "Oh, it's Miss Thomas," he 
 exclaimed, and bowed. ' ' Glad to see you, Miss 
 Thomas. And how are you, to-day I" 
 
 "Why, thoroughly entertained, thank you," 
 45
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 was the amused reply; and the young woman 
 laughed openly. 
 
 For the moment, Hendrix displayed a slight 
 trace of confusion before Miss Thomas's rail- 
 lery. He coughed nervously, as he considered 
 his next remark. 
 
 "I just dropped in to see your father for 
 a few minutes, Miss Chase," he announced, at 
 last. ''I particularly wished to have a little 
 talk with him, if possible, on a business matter. 
 Or, if I couldn't do that, why, at least, I could 
 leave my congratulations for him." 
 
 This announcement impressed the girl as in- 
 dicative of a gracious action, and one deserving 
 a gracious reception. So, she smiled on the 
 visitor with an amiability of manner that had 
 not marked her hitherto during the interview. 
 
 " Father wrote to me that his invention would 
 be a great success," she said, brightly. "But 
 I didn't know that the facts about it had been 
 given out yet." 
 
 Hendrix smiled ; and there was an ambiguous 
 expression in the turn of the bloodless lips. 
 
 46
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "My congratulations must be double, of 
 course, my dear Miss Chase," he said, grimly. 
 "I have to congratulate him on both his inven- 
 tion and on his marriage. ' ' 
 
 At this amazing declaration on the part of 
 
 her visitor, "Willa straightened, her form grew 
 
 v* 
 tense, her eyes expanded in wonder, her hands 
 
 clenched, her lips parted. In the shock of the 
 revelation, she could with difficulty stammer a 
 single word of interrogation: 
 
 ' ' Mar married 1 ' ' 
 
 "Good gracious! Now, what do you think 
 of that?" Miss Thomas cried excitedly, at the 
 same moment. ' ' Married ! ' ' 
 
 Hendrix coughed a second time, to conceal a 
 smile of cynical amusement which the emotion 
 of his two hearers caused him. 
 
 "I had supposed, of course, that you had 
 heard the report of your father's " 
 
 "Such a report is the height of absurdity!" 
 Willa interrupted, with angry vehemence. 
 
 "Anyhow, it's fortunate that I hadn't written 
 him of my generous plans in his behalf," Miss 
 
 47
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Thomas said. She had meant to give the words 
 an inflection of farcical regret ; but, despite her 
 intention, they sounded tart. 
 
 "You silly!" Willa retorted. 
 
 "Yes; the blow is altogether too much for 
 me," Miss Thomas continued, with more suc- 
 cess toward a tone of merriment. "I'm going 
 home. And I'd have made you just the sweet- 
 est sort of a mother, Willa dear ! . . . Aha, 
 I think I'll be revenged on you, after all. I'll 
 steal Jack from you." 
 
 The closing words had been provoked from 
 her by observing, in the doorway of the library, 
 young Mr. Hendrix himself, burdened with a 
 large bunch of violets, the fragrance from which 
 was now wafted across the room as the young 
 gentleman bowed in salutation. Jack had 
 started perceptibly at the unexpected sight of 
 his father in this house; but, beyond that in- 
 voluntary movement, he appeared determined 
 to ignore the older man, for without even a 
 second glance he advanced straightway to Willa, 
 offering the bouquet. 
 
 48
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "I guess I'm stung again," Miss Thomas de- 
 clared, with a pout; for this visitor seemed to 
 have eyes for the girl alone. 
 
 "I found these pretty flowers weeping on 
 the Avenue," Jack said, whimsically; "and I 
 thought it would be only proper kindness to 
 show them the way home. ' ' 
 
 The reward for this gallant speech was the 
 prettiest of smiles from his hostess. 
 
 "I'll put them along with those other wan- 
 derers of yesterday," she promised, moving 
 gently toward the door. 
 
 But the young man detained her, eagerly. 
 
 "It's been an age since I saw you," he said, 
 dismally. 
 
 "Nonsense! It was yesterday," she re- 
 torted, with another radiant smile. 
 
 "Jack!" 
 
 The stentorian exclamation came from Hen- 
 drix, senior. Thus far, he had watched the 
 scene with the fires of anger blazing in his usu- 
 ally cold eyes. Now, unable to restrain his in- 
 dignation longer in the face of the son's refusal 
 
 49
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 to acknowledge his presence in the room, the call 
 came as a shout. 
 
 "Oh, I didn't overlook you, dad," the young 
 man replied, placidly. 
 
 "Keally!" 
 
 "No, really.'* Jack scrutinized his parent 
 carefully, with a calm, intellectual curiosity of 
 study. "The truth is, you see, that I delayed 
 in greeting you because I was wondering try- 
 ing to figure out just what you could be doing 
 in this house." 
 
 "Well, I didn't have to study so long in your 
 case," the father retorted, savagely. 
 
 Jack smiled contentedly, and again turned to 
 Willa. 
 
 "Why did dad come to see you?" he ques- 
 tioned. 
 
 "You flatter me," was the disdainful answer. 
 ' ' He came to see father to congratulate father 
 on being being married ! ' ' 
 
 "Most unfortunately, I did, I should say," 
 Hendrix growled. 
 
 Jack turned to his father, reproachfully. 
 50
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 He was thoroughly ashamed to learn of such 
 display of bad taste. 
 
 "I agree with you most unfortunately," he 
 interjected. 
 
 "Well, anyway," the older man remarked, 
 placatingly, "Miss Chase tells me that the re- 
 port is quite absurd not true, she seems to 
 think." 
 
 "I only wish it were true," Jack sighed. 
 
 "Oh, how unkind you are!" Willa ejaculated, 
 pouting. 
 
 ' * Oh, no only selfish. You see, in that case, 
 you'd have to leave here, and come and live 
 with us." 
 
 At this audacious declaration, a sudden rush 
 of blood turned the pallor of Hendrix's cheeks 
 to purple. 
 
 "Huh?" he demanded, truculently. "What 
 the !" 
 
 "Do you really want me?" Willa inquired, 
 tantalizingly. She was moved to mischievous 
 enjoyment of the father's manifest perturba- 
 tion. 
 
 51
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Do I want you!" Jack repeated, ecstat- 
 ically. 
 
 Hendrix snorted contempt, but contrived to 
 restrain any further exhibition of his feelings. 
 
 "Come on, Jack," he urged, briskly. "It's 
 time we were getting down- town." He had re- 
 sumed his accustomed manner of calm domin- 
 ance. 
 
 "I beg your pardon, dad," the son replied, 
 with an exaggerated courtesy. "Were you 
 waiting for me? Eeally, I didn't know that. 
 Of course, I didn't mean to detain you not 
 for a moment. Please, go right ahead, dad. 
 Don't think of delaying yourself for me not 
 a second." He strode to his father's side, 
 seized an arm, and guided his discomfited 
 parent toward the door. 
 
 "Good-morning, Miss Chase," Hendrix 
 called out hastily, as he was swept onward by 
 the muscular assistance of his suave son. 
 
 "Good-morning, Mr. Hendrix," the girl said, 
 sedately. "I'll tell my father that you called 
 to see him, and to congratulate him, doubly." 
 
 52
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Then, as the magnate came to the door, his 
 way was suddenly barred by the old servant. 
 
 ''The telephone, Miss Willa," Maria an- 
 nounced; "long distance." 
 
 "Long distance," Willa repeated, with a 
 quaver of excitement in her voice. "Why, it 
 must be father! He wrote me that he would 
 telephone from Chicago, on his way home. If 
 you care to wait, Mr. Hendrix," she continued, 
 turning quickly toward the financier, "I'll ask 
 him on the telephone as to when it would be 
 convenient for him to have an interview with 
 you." 
 
 "That's very kind of you," was the answer, 
 spoken with pleased alacrity. " If it 's possible, 
 I'd like to speak to him over the wire. I'm 
 leaving town to-night for a month, and it will 
 be my only chance. ' ' 
 
 Then, as the girl left the room to go to the 
 telephone, the financier's manner, which had 
 been most affable the while he addressed Willa, 
 changed with surprising abruptness. He 
 wheeled swiftly, to face his son. There was a 
 
 53
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 tense anger now in every line of his face. The 
 closely compressed lips were more pallid than 
 before; his eyes had taken on a glitter that 
 was more dangerous than the young man liked, 
 although he managed to sustain the glare un- 
 flinchingly, as he waited for the outbreak.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 AN IRONIC COMPLICATION 
 
 DOUBTLESS, Willa Chase had suffered an 
 overwhelming surprise by reason of the 
 visit to her father's house of Tom Hendrix, 
 and her emotion had been intensified by the 
 report brought by the visitor as to her father's 
 second marriage. But it may be believed that 
 her amazement over the happenings of the day 
 was no greater if indeed as great than that 
 of the financier himself, who, wholly without 
 warning, had turned to behold his son and heir 
 present in this house of an enemy. Moreover, 
 the young man's manner permitted no uncer- 
 tainty as to his sentiments in reference to the 
 charming young hostess. Jack had posed 
 openly in the attitude of the fond lover, 
 proffering his gift of flowers with the most 
 gallant air imaginable, even under the very 
 
 55
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 eyes of an outraged parent. Tom Hendrix was 
 of the character of man that nurses every 
 grudge persistently, to fatten hatred. His was 
 not the nature to flare out in a burst of wrath, 
 and then have done with it. Instead, he 
 nourished the fires of anger in his breast, 
 fanned them repeatedly, and kept them glowing 
 through the years. So, in the time of his youth, 
 when John Chase had thrashed him for his 
 contemptible trickery in cheating at exami- 
 nations in order to win a prize of some value 
 to him in those days, he had shown little resent- 
 ment outwardly, nor had he fought back with 
 much spirit. It seemed, indeed, that he had ac- 
 cepted his punishment with phlegmatic endur- 
 ance as an evil that was not to be avoided. 
 Nevertheless^, he had never forgotten the in- 
 dignity then laid upon him. Always, he 
 carried in his heart a secret resentment against 
 the supple, honest-eyed boy who had admin- 
 istered to him the chastisement he deserved. 
 It had fretted him sorely that this same John 
 Chase, without any dishonesty of methods, had 
 
 56
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 won his way to a record of brilliant scholar- 
 ship. In addition, he felt rancor constantly 
 over the fact that his enemy enjoyed popularity 
 with their companions, both boys and girls, 
 which was most unpleasantly in contrast with 
 his own comparative isolation. It may be, in 
 truth, that his bitterness against his school 
 fellows in general, and against John Chase in 
 particular, had much to do with shaping his 
 course in life. It may be, he perceived that 
 the one most effective method of revenge on 
 society would be by the accumulation of such 
 wealth that men and women must bow in defer- 
 ence before its possessor. With the realiza- 
 tion that money is power, he deliberately set 
 himself to the amassing of riches. He suc- 
 ceeded beyond even his most ambitious expec- 
 tations, and he found himself by means of 
 money in that mastery of his fellows which he 
 had so craved. 
 
 One product of his achievement, and one that 
 gratified him beyond all others, was that in the 
 end he had come into possession of John 
 
 57
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Chase's wife. His first and chief defeat in 
 life had come about by reason of this rivalry 
 in love. It had been on account of this little 
 girl, with the brilliant complexion of cream 
 and roses and the dimpled mouth and laugh- 
 ing eyes, that he had descended to trickery in 
 the examinations. He had desired to win 
 honor for his scholarship in her estimation. 
 But the result had been that he was discredited. 
 The exposure ruined his chances of gaining 
 the girl's heart at that time. Still, he never 
 abandoned the idea of eventually humiliating 
 John Chase. When, at last, in the period of 
 his own widowerhood, he perceived that John 
 Chase's wife was grown a worldly woman, with 
 illusions shattered, and with the lost idealism 
 of middle age, he understood that the time was 
 ripe for action. The woman was longing for 
 the luxuries of life. He could give them in all 
 abundance. So, he tempted her envious desire, 
 and won her to his will. 
 
 But, by so much as he had triumphed in his 
 projects against his enemy in the securing of 
 
 58
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 the woman after years of waiting, so, now, he 
 
 was confounded and dismayed to find the situ- 
 
 t 
 
 ation of affairs such as it was revealed by his , 
 son's presence in this house. To his wrathful 
 chagrin, he found Jack openly and palpably 
 appearing as the devoted suitor for the favor 
 of the daughter of the man whom most he hated. 
 In the face of this catastrophe, all that was most 
 determined and vicious in the financier's char- 
 acter rose to the surface, and actuated his 
 course. 
 
 "Look here, Jack," he declared with cold 
 malignity, as Willa hurried from the room to 
 answer the telephone call, "you must know that 
 I have hated John Chase ever since we were 
 boys together. I wish you to understand, once 
 for all, that I will tolerate no foolishness be- 
 tween my son and his daughter. Do you un- 
 derstand that?" 
 
 But this effort to repress the natural inclina- 
 tions of the young man, to wile him from fond- 
 est contemplation of the girl who had taken 
 the chief place in his heart, was a total failure. 
 
 59
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Jack received the rebuke without any evidence 
 of being impressed by his father's wish and 
 command. On the contrary, he laughed in the 
 face frowning into his. 
 
 "Yes," the irrepressible young man declared, 
 with a manner of bland sarcasm, "that would 
 be taking after you pretty strong, wouldn't it? 
 Oh, yes, I admit it. You " he tapped his 
 father playfully on the chest "mother; me " 
 he indicated himself in the like frivolous fash- 
 ion "the daughter. Excellent taste we have. 
 "What?" 
 
 Hendrix growled, resentfully. 
 
 "Kemember what I've said to you," he di- 
 rected; and his heavy voice was menacing. 
 
 "Oh, I'm sure to remember," Jack declared, 
 airily. He smiled on his father, as if wholly 
 undisturbed by the older man's sullen disap- 
 proval. 
 
 The idea that there could be an open re- 
 bellion against any wish of his was too remote 
 from Tom Hendrix 's habit of thought for him 
 to grasp readily. So, now, Jack's flippant re- 
 
 60
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 sponses appeared to him as adequate assur- 
 ances that his will would be obeyed. He turned 
 away, and strolled slowly about the room, re- 
 garding the affair as already settled in ac- 
 cordance with his wish. His cold eyes wan- 
 dered over the walls in a rather contemptuous 
 contemplation of his defeated rival's library. 
 He seemed impervious to the atmosphere of 
 the place, that created by the long-continued 
 occupancy of a cultured owner. Then, finally, 
 his gaze chanced to fall on the photographic 
 portrait of his wife and her daughter, which 
 Willa had so carefully hung but a few minutes 
 before his coming. He smiled approval with a 
 manner of self-satisfied pride. 
 
 4 'Nice picture of my wife," he remarked, 
 genially. 
 
 Jack Hendrix, a portrait-painter of much 
 more than average merit, regarded the photo- 
 graph critically. Then, his expression light- 
 ened suddenly. 
 
 "I shouldn't be the least bit astonished," he 
 said to his father, with an air of intimate confi- 
 
 61
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 dence, "if, under all the circumstances of the 
 case, Chase could be persuaded to let you have 
 that picture. You'd better ask him for it 
 nicely, of course." 
 
 The capitalist wheeled on his disrespectful 
 son, and snorted indignantly at this persiflage 
 concerning the domestic complications between 
 himself and Mr. Chase. 
 
 * ' Huh ? " lie demanded, belligerently. 
 
 But Jack deemed it prudent to vouchsafe no 
 direct reply to the grunt of inquiry. He drew 
 back a little, and stood staring at his father 
 with eyes that twinkled good-naturedly. He 
 put his arms akimbo, and nodded for emphasis 
 as he spoke: 
 
 "Honest, dad," he said, "I do admire your 
 nerve in coming to this house in broad day- 
 light, considering everything that's been be- 
 tween you and Chase." 
 
 The tribute to his audacity served to put the 
 father in excellent humor with both his son 
 and himself. He patted Jack on the arm re- 
 assuringly. 
 
 63
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "I never let my personal feelings interfere 
 to prevent my getting the best of everything 
 in business, my boy," he announced, with an 
 air of great complacency. "You see, Chase's 
 new invention is a good thing. I have certain 
 knowledge to that effect, Jack. Now, it so hap- 
 pens that I want that invention. I need it in 
 order to club some other fellows with. ' ' 
 
 The young man stared at the speaker with 
 a lively and half-admiring curiosity. 
 
 "But why did you choose to come here your- 
 self?" he inquired. "I can't understand why 
 you shouldn't have preferred to send somebody 
 to represent you in this particular case." 
 
 But Hendrix was confident as to the correct- 
 ness of his course, and his answer, given with- 
 out a particle of hesitation or embarrassment, 
 was convincing, from his point of view : 
 
 "Because," he explained, "Chase would have 
 kicked out anybody I could have sent to repre- 
 sent me in the matter; but he can't very well 
 kick Tom Hendrix out." 
 
 Jack made no comment on this nai've revela- 
 64
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 tion of his father's methods of thought. The 
 subject had lost its interest for him. His mind 
 had gone back to the girl, and he wandered 
 toward the door through which she had van- 
 ished, with hopeful eyes watching for her re- 
 turn. But, presently, a new thought came to 
 him, and again he turned to address his father: 
 
 "I am frank to admit, dad," he said casually, 
 "that I haven't had anything like one-tenth of 
 your experience but I fancy that even I could 
 have put up a better lie than that congratula- 
 tion of yours on a reported second marriage by 
 your old enemy." 
 
 It was eminently characteristic of the mag- 
 nate that, while he had no least objection to the 
 use of duplicity in the furtherance of any busi- 
 ness scheme, he at times chose to regard him- 
 self as most punctilious in truthfulness. In- 
 deed, the habitual liar is often the most out- 
 raged when falsely accused. Now, therefore, 
 Hendrix's pallor again became surcharged with 
 purple, and his eyes gleamed fiercely, as he bent 
 his brows on the offending son. 
 
 65
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 " Chase is married!" he snapped. 
 
 Jack started in genuine amazement, and his 
 forehead wrinkled perplexedly. 
 
 "You really mean it?" he questioned. 
 
 "Certainly! How dare you question my 
 word, sir?" 
 
 "Well, well, this is a surprise," Jack mur- 
 mured. His astonishment was swiftly giving 
 place to wonder concerning the effect of such 
 a union on his own most cherished dreams. 
 It occurred to him that the new menage here 
 might serve excellently his own tender inter- 
 ests. 
 
 "It surely looks as if it might occasion sur- 
 prise in some quarters," Hendrix agreed, with a 
 chuckle of satisfaction, as he recalled Willa's 
 demeanor in the face of the announcement. 
 
 "Where did the marriage come off?" Jack 
 asked. "When did it come off? Who's the 
 woman in the case, anyhow?" 
 
 "Last week very quietly Lincoln, Ne- 
 braska. You know that Chase has been con- 
 ducting experiments there." The financier 
 
 66
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 smiled on his son complacently, and winked 
 the wink of business sapience. "I kept tabs 
 on him, Jacky, my boy." 
 
 The young man paused contemplatively, and 
 regarded his father vaguely. Finally, he 
 smiled in retrospect. 
 
 "Ah, yes Lincoln," he said, softly. "I 
 spent a summer over there, three years ago. 
 Some of those Nebraska girls are wonders, all 
 right. Why, one, I remember " 
 
 The father interrupted with a laugh of cyn- 
 ical raillery. 
 
 "If you remember her for three years," he 
 retorted, "she must have been a wonder!" 
 
 "What is her name?" Jack inquired hastily,, 
 to divert his father's attention from this per- 
 sonal theme. "Chase's wife's, I mean." 
 
 Hendrix paused for a moment, meditating. 
 Then, he shook his head. 
 
 "Oh, I haven't any idea," he said, at last. 
 "I didn't bother about that." 
 
 "It's rather a pity, isn't it?" Jack demanded. 
 "You see, I might have remembered her." 
 
 67
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Hendrix, however, neglected the humor in the 
 suggestion. He was, in accordance with his 
 custom, giving his whole attention to the im- 
 mediate project in view, with an ability of con- 
 centration that was one of the chief factors 
 in his usual success with affairs. 
 
 "If it should happen that you do know her, 
 Jack," he remarked seriously, "you see to it 
 that she makes Chase sell his patent to me. 
 She could probably manage it easily enough. 
 A new wife pulls a strong oar." 
 
 The young man laughed outright. 
 
 "Of course, you're an authority in that di- 
 rection, dad," he said, while his eyes twinkled. 
 ""But, you know, I haven't your fondness for 
 Chase's invention." 
 
 "No; you prefer the daughter," the father 
 retorted, crisply. 
 
 The shot found its mark, and the young man 
 betrayed evident signs of confusion. Never- 
 theless, he replied, firmly enough: 
 
 "Yes, certainly the daughter, for my 
 choice." Then, he was at pains to change the 
 
 68
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 subject without delay. He looked sharply into 
 the hard, calculating face of his father. "May 
 I ask," he inquired abruptly, " which of your 
 companies 'is the one you mean to have buy 
 Chase's invention?" 
 
 "National Power," was the ready answer. 
 
 "National Power," Jack repeated, musingly. 
 "I have heard that name before." 
 
 "I should think it quite possible," his father 
 retorted, with heavy sarcasm. "You are, I be- 
 lieve, the second vice-president of the com- 
 pany." 
 
 "Oh, so I am!" Jack admitted, not a whit 
 abashed. At the indignant disgust revealed 
 in his father's expression, the youth could not 
 forbear smiling. "I tell you, dad," he went 
 on blithely, "it's a mighty difficult task for us 
 busy men of affairs to remember all of our 
 multitudinous enterprises." 
 
 "Busy!" scoffed the magnate. 
 
 "Yes, busy," Jack affirmed, nonchalantly. 
 "I tell you, dad, you have no idea as to the 
 amount of work I do in a day of only twenty- 
 
 69
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 four hours. . . . Why, think of all I've 
 done already, this morning!" 
 
 Hendrix growled remonstrance. 
 
 "Bah!" he exclaimed. "Picking violets, 
 that's what you've done." 
 
 "Well, yes, dad," Jack admitted, unblush- 
 ingly. "It took me a full forty minutes to get 
 that bouquet just right." 
 
 The older man sniffed disparagingly. 
 
 "Forty minutes to buy a bunch of violets!" 
 he ejaculated. He waved a heavy hand majes- 
 tically. "I," he declared, "could have bought 
 a whole railroad in less time." 
 
 Jack smiled placidly in response to this out- 
 burst. 
 
 "But I doubt if the deal would have smelled 
 as sweet," he said. 
 
 The father turned away, evidently displeased 
 by his son's flippant manner. But, after a lit- 
 tle, he approached Jack again, and spoke with 
 a new note of appeal in his voice. 
 
 "Jack," he said anxiously, "won't you drop 
 all this foolishness? Won't you go into busi- 
 
 70
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 ness, as I wish you to do ? You know, my boy, 
 that all I'm doing is really for you. I am work- 
 ing for you, Jack." 
 
 "You are!" There was incredulity in the 
 young man's tone. He laughed a little as he 
 spoke questioningly : "Now, are you really, 
 dad?" 
 
 "And this," Hendrix grumbled, "is my 
 son!" 
 
 "Now, dad, that's boasting!" came the de- 
 bonair riposte. "Beally, you shouldn't boast 
 of me in that way. Why, I well, I never 
 boast of you, you know." 
 
 "Bah!" the father ejaculated, testily. 
 
 "Seriously, don't you see, dad," the young 
 man protested, "you are kidding yourself 
 honestly, you are! But you can't kid me. 
 You are not working for me, not a bit of it. 
 You are working all the time for Tom Hen- 
 drix, and for Power with a capital P! And 
 you know it, too." 
 
 "Not at all, not at all!" blustered Hendrix. 
 "Why, I've put you in on any number of good 
 
 71
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 things already. And what's my reward? You 
 don't even know the names of the companies 
 you're an officer in!" 
 
 Young Hendrix laughed, defensively. 
 
 ''Oh, yes, I do," he declared; "yes, actually. 
 See here." He drew forth a small, red book. 
 "I have written them all down in my little 
 memorandum book here no, here." He 
 quickly reversed the tiny volume, smiling as he 
 did so. " Here they are. Shall I pass them to 
 you?" 
 
 "He's put them down in a book!" the father 
 groaned. "And that's as far as he's got. 
 , . . Now, honestly, Jack, what do you want 
 to do? Tell me ; and I'll start you in whenever 
 you like." 
 
 At this moment, Hendrix, senior, received a 
 surprise that impressed him mightily, for it put 
 his son in a wholly new light. The young man 
 placed a hand affectionately on his father's 
 shoulder, and stared straight into the cold eyes. 
 
 "But that's just what I don't want you to 
 do, dad," he announced. "You can't start me 
 
 72
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 in anything. You see, I'm tired of being just 
 somebody's son. That's why, since I came into 
 a little money from mother, I have tried and 
 tried seriously to be an artist. And I guess 
 you won't claim that I got anything from you 
 on that side." Jack stood away from his 
 father, and his usual insouciant manner of 
 speech characterized his next utterance. ' ' Say, 
 dad," he demanded, "did you ever see any of 
 my pictures?" 
 
 "Yes," came the reply from Hendrix; but 
 there was no hint of encouragement in the risp 
 monosyllable. 
 
 "What did you think of them?" 
 
 "I don't think you'll put many photographers 
 out of business," came the short reply. 
 
 At this juncture, the return of Willa Chase 
 brought to a close the agreeable interview be- 
 tween father and son. 
 
 74
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 MIXED RELATIONS 
 
 ^T~T wasn't father," said the girl, entering. 
 
 -- "It was a message from him through a 
 friend in Chicago, and he will be home to-day." 
 
 "Bringing you a new mother?" asked Jack, 
 jocularly. 
 
 "The idea of such a thing!" Willa cried, in- 
 dignantly. 
 
 "Well, well," Hendrix said, "I will com- 
 municate with him. Good-by, Miss Chase." 
 
 "Good-morning, Mr. Hendrix," the girl re- 
 plied. 
 
 The financier turned inquiring eyes toward 
 Jack, but, finding in his son's gaze an emphatic 
 refusal to accompany him, he bowed and started 
 to leave the room. 
 
 "Oh, dad!" called Jack. "On your way 
 75
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 down, will you stop at the office of the National 
 Power Company, and tell them that the second 
 vice-president will not be down to-day. He is 
 very busy, trying to amalgamate with a " 
 Jack laughed and glanced toward "Willa "well, 
 with a very attractive proposition." 
 
 "Huh!" Hendrix ejaculated, and forthwith 
 left the room. 
 
 Then, Jack turned to the girl, a little apolo- 
 getically. 
 
 "You know," he said, "dad is the finest fel- 
 low in the world when you don't oppose him." 
 
 "And my dad," said Willa, "is always op- 
 posing him!" 
 
 Young Hendrix tactfully avoided a continu- 
 ance of the conversation on these lines. In- 
 stead, he looked around the room with an ap- 
 proving eye. 
 
 "Jolly old library, this," he said, in appre- 
 ciation of the rare prints, the fine old furnish- 
 ings and the handsome books, with the evidence 
 of their worn bindings to prove that they were 
 really read. "I wish I could come oftener." 
 
 76
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 At that, the girl turned away, and then said 
 slowly : 
 
 "You can't come at all, after to-day." 
 
 "That's absurd," Jack retorted quickly. 
 "Why?" 
 
 "Why, I told you," Willa declared. "My 
 father comes home to-day." 
 
 Impatience that was almost anger came over 
 the young man. "What has that to do with 
 it ? " he remonstrated. * * We are not Montagues 
 and Capulets." 
 
 This modern girl had the humor to smile at 
 his suggestion of tragedy. She shook her head 
 prettily, and laughed. 
 
 "No," she said, "it is utterly inconceivable 
 your taking poison for anybody ! ' ' 
 
 Jack laughed with her, but then thoughtfully 
 said: 
 
 "Seriously, though, you know it is a shame 
 that your father and my father hate each other 
 so. We you and I, you know are such un- 
 commonly nice people ourselves!" He caught 
 the girl's hand, and patted it. 
 
 77
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "They have hated each other a long time," 
 Willa said, dubiously. 
 
 "How long?" he asked. 
 
 "Ever since they went to school together." 
 Whatever remnant of childishness was left in 
 the girl asserted itself then. "Yes," she said, 
 proudly, ' i and my father thrashed your father. ' ' 
 
 "Good gracious! He did, eh?" laughed 
 Jack, willing to pass the matter over pleasantly. 
 But, after all, he was not much more than a 
 boy himself. With a flash of family pride, he 
 asserted : "Well, it's the only time he ever did 
 beat him at anything!" 
 
 "I have heard terrible things about your 
 father lately," Willa rejoined. 
 
 But Jack had regained his saving humorous 
 view of things. 
 
 1 1 How did your father come to lick my dad 1 ' ' 
 he asked. 
 
 "He licked him," declared Willa, virtuously, 
 "for buying examination papers." 
 
 Jack flashed up his hands in horror. 
 
 "How awful!" he cried. 
 78
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "I didn't like to tell you," began Willa, com- 
 miseratingly. 
 
 "No; you were right to tell me," was the 
 answer, with mock seriousness. "But he'd 
 never do that nowadays." 
 
 "Oh, yes, he has improved," Willa agreed. 
 
 "Goodness, yes," answered Jack. "Nowa- 
 days, he would bribe the teacher." 
 
 "Mr. Hendrix!" the girl remonstrated, with 
 a touch of bitterness. 
 
 He caught her hand as she turned away. 
 
 "I thought we had agreed on 'Jack.' " 
 
 "Not when you uphold dishonesty!" was the 
 spirited retort. 
 
 "I don't uphold dishonesty," Jack replied 
 earnestly. "Is it my fault that my father is as 
 he is?" He made a gesture of helplessness. 
 "He was here before me. I didn't make his 
 character; I merely accept conditions." 
 
 "Yes, that's it," she said, critically; "you 
 merely accept. I do not like people who merely 
 accept. I like a master " 
 
 Jack stared at the speaker contemplatively 
 79
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 for a little while, looked at her after the manner 
 of one accepting a challenge joyously. 
 
 "All right," he said, presently. "I won't 
 merely accept. You'll help my father. Father 
 isn't perfect." 
 
 "You mean, we'll improve our fathers'?" 
 
 "Yes," he assented; "we'll form the Fathers' 
 Aid Society." 
 
 "Don't joke," she interposed. 
 
 "Well, now," he suggested, "when your 
 father marries, you won't accept conditions." 
 
 Willa reared her head proudly. 
 
 "I make conditions here," was her answer. 
 
 Jack smiled sympathetically, and again 
 patted her hand; but in the manner of one 
 humoring a child. 
 
 "Very unpleasant conditions for Mrs. 
 Chase, ' ' he suggested. " I '11 bet I wouldn 't like 
 to be around when she assumes the 'Mrs.' pre- 
 rogative, and bosses you." . 
 
 "Why, Mr. Hendrix!" 
 
 "Oh," said Jack, easily, "you will have to 
 mind her, you know. Your father will be in 
 
 80
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 love with her, and he'll make you. Take it 
 from me, when a man gets a new wife, the child 
 is mighty lucky to hold second place." 
 
 Willa turned from him with a frown. 
 
 "I think you are horrid," she said indig- 
 nantly, but he only smiled and possessed him- 
 self of both her hands. 
 
 "That's better," he said. "And now, when 
 are you coming to the studio?" he demanded. 
 "I must paint you." 
 
 "I cannot come to the studio," she said, 
 drawing her hands away suddenly, as she 
 turned to confront him squarely. "Why do 
 you do you like me, anyhow 1 ' ' 
 
 "Why do I like you!" he repeated musingly. 
 "Well, you are beautiful, and I am an artist." 
 
 "I do not want to be liked for that," she re- 
 torted, indignantly. * ' I want to be liked for ' ' 
 
 "I'll tell you then," he said, seriously. 
 "You are so confounded honest! Why why, 
 you tell the truth, too, when it hurts a body. 
 Do you know, I never knew a girl just like you. 
 I guess I am such a bred and born-in liar 
 
 81
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 I cannot help admiring honesty in somebody 
 else." 
 
 "Oh, I don't think you are a liar," Willa 
 ventured, half-timidly. A note of tenderness 
 had crept into her voice without any conscious 
 volition. 
 
 "Thanks," he observed brightly. "Then, 
 you will come T ' ' 
 
 "Oh I," answered the girl, undecidedly, 
 
 HT 
 
 "I'll have mother there," Jack assured her. 
 "Your mother she is, you know, Willa," he 
 finished tenderly. 
 
 "Well, then, perhaps," she answered, hesitat- 
 ingly. 
 
 But Jack drew her toward him, and, despite 
 the fact that she half-resisted, held her suffi- 
 ciently close to kiss her hand. At the contact 
 of his lips on her palm, Willa uttered a cry of 
 alarm. It was occasioned in part by the im- 
 pulsiveness of his action and in part by the un- 
 expected entrance of Maria. In the next mo- 
 ment, the two young persons stared together in 
 
 82
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 a dismay that would have been altogether com- 
 ical had it not possessed an underlying phase 
 of tragedy. For Maria had* announced ; 
 "Mrs. Hendrix." 
 
 83
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 THE SUITOR'S FLIGHT 
 
 WHEN the good Maria announced "Mrs. 
 Hendrix," there occurred that which 
 might have called forth an effort from the pen 
 of the great picture satirist, Hogarth. Had his 
 destiny been to paint twentieth-century scenes 
 with his wonderfully broad, human comprehen- 
 sion, there would have been as much of pity 
 as of ridicule in the depiction of that which now 
 occurred in John Chase's home. 
 
 The youth and the girl, on the announcement 
 of the arrival of Mrs. Hendrix, faced each other, 
 and with unconscious spontaneity exclaimed as 
 one: 
 
 "Mother!" 
 
 For an instant after that, Jack and Willa 
 stood nonplused. For them, the comedy of the 
 
 84
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 incident was not uppermost in this instant of 
 amazement. Some of it, however, presently 
 entered the understanding of the youth, but he 
 had no immediate expression for it. He was 
 more concerned with the import of what Willa 
 said to him at this point : 
 
 "You don't mind her coming here, do you!'* 
 she asked. And, then, she continued, defiantly, 
 r edoubtedly : ' ' She is my mother, you know I ' ' 
 
 Jack Hendrix was in no wise perturbed by 
 this appeal, for he thought he knew and under- 
 stood his step-mother better than did her own 
 daughter. His estimate of Mrs. Hendrix was 
 not love-inspiring; yet neither was it altogether 
 antagonistic. He simply found her amusing, 
 and she asked nothing of him in the way of 
 filial duty, save as now and then she made de- 
 mands for his attendance at her social func- 
 tions. These, to be sure, were irksome when 
 he attended them ; but he rarely did, and, there- 
 fore, he had no real bill of complaint against 
 her. He had experienced, though, a sense of 
 recoil at divers times against the woman, be- 
 
 85
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 cause of her controlled vanity, because of the 
 pitiable silliness, as he adjudged it, of her es- 
 timate of what really constituted the important 
 things in life. Moreover, there was a stronger 
 recoil against her in that she stood in such a 
 peculiar relation to himself and the girl he was 
 eager to marry. Nevertheless, he was well 
 able to appreciate Willa's ideal of her mother, 
 and, with a natural quality of delicacy, he was 
 loath to attack that idealization by the daugh- 
 ter of the vain, handsome, flamboyant mother, 
 whose social achievements so often filled the 
 eyes of the public through the binoculars of the 
 press. 
 
 At this particular moment, however, young 
 Hendrix was more dismayed than he otherwise 
 would have been at the arrival of his step- 
 mother in the home of her daughter. 
 i "I must be going," he said, hurriedly. 
 
 The girl frowned. 
 
 "But she is my mother," she persisted, in- 
 dignantly. 
 
 1 'To be sure, to be sure," Jack replied read- 
 86
 
 ily and laughingly. "But you don't under- 
 stand I'm in Pittsburgh!" 
 
 "In Pittsburgh?" 
 
 "Yes, I told her I was going to Pittsburgh. 
 I did it as a matter of self-defense, you know 
 trying to avoid being one of her dancing men 
 at her reception to-morrow night. I really 
 must get out without her seeing me." So say- 
 ing, young Hendrix started for the door that 
 led to a small store-room off the library. 
 
 But Willa stopped his projected flight. 
 
 "You can show Mrs. Hendrix up, Maria," 
 she said evenly to the servant. Then, she 
 turned to Jackj "Now, down the hall the 
 back steps through the pantry." 
 
 The young man paused to laugh aloud over 
 the absurdity of the adventure, and said: 
 
 "I'll be back after mother's gone. I've 
 something particular to say to you to tell 
 you." 
 
 Willa made no pretense of not catching the 
 tenderness that was in the voice of the bright- 
 eyed, clear-skinned, athletic young man who so- 
 
 87
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 addressed her. She was even eager in her 
 smiling manner of reply: 
 
 "Mother never stays long," she said, en- 
 couragingly. 
 
 ' ' Then in fifteen minutes, ' ' he laughed back 
 at her. 
 
 "Yes," she answered, with a pretty response 
 to his tenderness. 
 
 Thereat, the suitor vanished by the method 
 of flight to which he had been directed. But, 
 just before he disappeared through the pantry- 
 room, he flashed back with his hand from his 
 lips a message that made the girl's cheeks 
 glow yet more rosily, and with a half-tentative 
 wave of her graceful fingers from her own win- 
 some mouth she gave him his reply. 
 
 Instantly, thereafter, however, she assumed 
 her best poise of gravity. There were both in- 
 terest and lively speculation in her eyes, as she 
 held herself ready to greet her mother.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 MKS. HENDBIX 
 
 1\TY dear child!" 
 
 "Good-morning, mother. Well, this 
 is a nice surprise!" returned "Willa, with gen- 
 uine cordiality. 
 
 Mrs. Hendrix was just at the turn of forty 
 without being afflicted with any of the ugli- 
 ness of portliness, wrinkles or sagging flesh. 
 She was faultlessly gowned extravagantly 
 gowned, indeed; yet, without undue accentua- 
 tion of the extreme costliness and richness of 
 her attire. Her features were regular with a 
 regularity too fine too fine for any wealth of 
 temperament or intellect. Her big, clear blue 
 eyes under their exact arches, with her finely 
 molded delicacy of nose and chin contour, with 
 her well-turned, but thin, lips, absolutely be- 
 tokened her type: that of a cold, unemotional, 
 
 90
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 calculating, ambitious woman, ruled by the 
 single passion of material vanity. She had the 
 narrow outlook of a woman peering at the 
 world through the half -closed slats of a shutter. 
 Her standards met absolutely this limitation of 
 outlook. Her salutation, "My dear child!'* 
 was in the high-pitched, clearly enunciated 
 manner of fashion, but whatever genuine feel- 
 ing there was that lay beneath the words was 
 carefully repressed in her manner of speech. 
 
 It was not at all with the instinct of a child 
 greeting her mother that Willa saluted this 
 woman. It was altogether as youth greets 
 something it deems superior. To Willa, her 
 mother's attention was flattering, interesting, 
 remarkable; the condescension of a distin- 
 guished woman of the social world toward an 
 obscure girl in middle-class life. 
 
 "It was just like you to come and see me 
 to-day," she said, with admiration and enthusi- 
 asm; but somewhat tactlessly, perhaps, for her 
 mother answered in tones distinctly tinged with 
 bitterness : 
 
 91
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Yes while your father is away, I manage 
 to see my child, now and then. ' ' 
 
 "Father comes home to-day," said the girl, 
 with a regretf ulness not merely polite. "His 
 invention, he writes me, has been a tremendous 
 success." 
 
 This announcement awakened no interest in 
 the former Mrs. Chase. 
 
 "Yes," she said, indifferently. She glanced 
 quickly about the room a room once very 
 familiar to her. It aroused no tender reminis- 
 cences. She felt only contempt for the dark, 
 heavy book-cases and half-worn leather chairs, 
 for the subdued coloring and seasoned aspect 
 of the library. 
 
 "In as bad taste and common looking as it 
 used to be," she sniffed. "I loathed that wall- 
 paper!" 
 
 "So do I now, ' ' answered the girl, eager for 
 admission to her mother's plane of superiority. 
 And, then, warmly, with a long glance at her 
 beautiful parent, she added : 
 
 92 

 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "What a lovely dress, mother!" 
 
 "Yes," Mrs. Hendrix said. "I'm sorry, 
 Willa, that I cannot say the same for yours. 
 Did your father choose it ? " 
 
 The girl nodded confirmation. 
 
 "It looks like him," said Mrs. Hendrix, in- 
 dignantly. ' ' The idea of a man trying to man- 
 age electricity and a girl's clothes at the same 
 time! But " she waved her gloved hands 
 lightly ' ' that 's your father. ' ' Then, she put a 
 finger daintily across her lips. "I always for- 
 get, ' ' she added, * * that I must not say anything 
 against your father. The court gave you to 
 him." She shrugged her shoulders. "That is 
 what men do for each other." 
 
 ' ' I think it was horrible and unfair not giv- 
 ing you a chance," said the girl, with full 
 sympathy. "Wouldn't they listen to you, 
 mother?" 
 
 As nearly as she might, Mrs. Hendrix 
 blushed; and a keen eye could have noted an 
 instant's overmastering confusion. 
 
 93
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "You cannot understand these legal matters, 
 Willa; you are too young," she replied, at last. 
 "Oh, the whole thing was very complicated, I 
 assure you." 
 
 Willa quickly abandoned a subject that was 
 palpably unpleasant to her admirable parent. 
 Instead, she allowed her sentiment to be stirred 
 in another direction. She felt the natural 
 yearning of a child toward a mother, and with 
 it came strongly the desire to draw nearer to 
 her; to repair the broken bond between them. 
 The girl indicated, with a shy motion of hands 
 and eyes, the picture she had so recently hung. 
 
 "Do you remember that, mother! I found 
 it in the attic." 
 
 Mrs. Hendrix put up her gold, bejeweled 
 lorgnette. 
 
 "Ah, yes," she said, without enthusiasm. 
 "Yes; I remember. It was a very tiresome 
 sitting. You were an ugly, skinny little gawk 
 then, Willa. I never thought you would grow 
 up to look as well as you do." 
 
 "Yes, mother," said the girl, gratefully. 
 94
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 She stood then, while her mother scrutinized 
 her at length. 
 
 "Yes," said her parent, "it's quite surpris- 
 ing." 
 
 "Well, you see, mother," said Willa, wholly 
 apologetically, "you never saw me for ten 
 years, and " 
 
 Mrs. Hendrix started. 
 
 "To be sure, to be sure," she answered, 
 hastily. "I was abroad a great deal, and " 
 she coughed significantly "your father, you 
 know, my dear child!" 
 
 "Yes," said Willa, fully impressed. 
 
 "I think you would be a credit, if " But, 
 as Willa leaned forward, eager to know in what 
 manner she might hope to become a credit in 
 her wonderful mother's eyes, the lady abruptly 
 changed the subject, asking: "By the way, has 
 Jack been in to-day?" 
 
 Willa endured a moment of painful hesita- 
 tion. But, in the end, she was true to Jack. 
 
 "Why why I understood he went to Pitts- 
 burgh, ' ' she managed to say. 
 
 95
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Mrs. Hendrix bent a searching glance on 
 the girl. Her tones were dry, as she suddenly 
 reverted to what had been in her mind before 
 she put the question about Jack. 
 
 "I have been wondering, Willa," said she, 
 "whether you are old enough for society. I 
 begin to believe that you are." 
 
 "You mean that f " began the girl, eagerly, 
 impulsively. 
 
 "I am afraid, I mean nothing, my child. 
 Your father, of course, does not, would not, 
 approve; and the courts " 
 
 "Hang the courts!" exclaimed Willa, ex- 
 citedly and decisively. ' ' You are my mother ! ' ' 
 
 "But but, my daughter " 
 
 ' * Oh, mother ! You would bring me out f ' ' 
 
 She arose and walked toward her parent; 
 her eager hands were outstretched. Her 
 mother put out an arm significant of restraint. 
 
 * ' Scarcely, under the circumstances against 
 his wishes. He is your father, my child, and 
 he has all legal authority over you until you 
 are twenty-one." 
 
 96
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Then?" demanded the girl. 
 
 "You can choose then," asserted her mother. 
 
 "At twenty-one?" All the longing she felt 
 for the luxurious life that was within her 
 mother's gift had expression in her manner of 
 repeating the query. 
 
 "Perhaps," said Mrs. Hendrix practically, 
 "your father will marry, and well, then his 
 wife may chaperon you." 
 
 "Father marry?" Willa stared, startled at 
 this repetition of the baneful suggestion. ' ' He 
 has to look after me, ' ' she concluded indig- 
 nantly. 
 
 Her mother caught the girl's hands. 
 
 "But if he should?" 
 
 "If he should," began Willa, and stopped. 
 
 Both women, conscious of another presence in 
 the room, turned to see John Chase himself, 
 standing between the portieres of the library. 
 
 97
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE INTRUDER 
 
 A LARGE, deep-chested man was John 
 Chase, ruggedly strong and handsome of 
 features. His size and physical characteristics 
 were indicative of his mental and moral equip- 
 ment. Big in heart as well as brain, he was; 
 masterful, inventive. A man of strong emo- 
 tions and indomitable will, he had suffered 
 keenly for the wrong done to him in the past 
 by his wife, but he had refused to allow the 
 deep injury to thwart his future, to discourage 
 him in the upward climb for a great success. 
 It had taken him a long time to undergo the 
 complete disillusionment of the love that his 
 wife's vanity had attracted from him. But, 
 now that he knew the woman thoroughly, he 
 was most earnestly determined that Willa 
 should never grow up to be an empty-hearted, 
 
 98
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 avaricious woman of her mother's kind. All 
 the love that he had drawn away from the 
 mother, he had for a long time centered on his 
 child. Even her faults of egotism and selfish- 
 ness were indulged by him in his great love for 
 her. Yet, he was sure that with maturity these 
 common errors of youth would fall away. 
 
 He had appeared in the doorway with his 
 handsome face beaming happiness ; but, on the 
 instant, the expression changed to one of con- 
 sternation and horror at sight of the company 
 in which he saw his child. He stood wavering 
 for a moment at the threshold of the room. 
 This was when Mrs. Hendrix saw him. A 
 startled exclamation was drawn from her. 
 
 "Father !" cried Willa, running to meet 
 him. 
 
 "Willa, my dear girl," he said, embracing 
 and kissing her. 
 
 "Father, you nearly crush me!" panted 
 Willa, in laughing protest. 
 
 He laughed back at her, still holding her arms 
 helpless in the grip of his strong hands. 
 
 100
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 The girl nodded her pretty head. 
 
 "Father," she said, remonstratingly, " don't 
 you see my mother?" 
 
 Mr. Chase maintained his hold of the girl's 
 hands, but bowed courteously the while in the 
 direction of Mrs. Hendrix. 
 
 "How do you do?" he said, with formal 
 politeness. 
 
 * ' How do you do ? " she answered, quite help- 
 lessly. An awkward silence came over the 
 group. 
 
 After a little, Willa sought to come to the 
 rescue. 
 
 "Isn't it er isn't it nice to be all together 
 again?" she said, suddenly and somewhat 
 breathlessly. 
 
 The irony of what she had said stung both 
 the man and the woman. But they answered 
 hastily, swiftly. 
 
 "Very nice," gasped Chase. 
 
 "Delightful," faltered Mrs. Hendrix, his 
 former wife. 
 
 But the miserable silence thrust itself upon 
 101
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 them again. Under the whip of it, Chase drew 
 himself up, coughed, and finally spoke : 
 
 "It is a pleasant day," he said heavily, 
 solemnly. 
 
 "Oh, charming!" said Mrs. Hendrix. 
 
 "Yes, indeed," said Willa, coming with com- 
 prehension now into the circle of embarrass- 
 ment. 
 
 "Er did you have a pleasant journey?" 
 asked Mrs. Hendrix. 
 
 "Delightful!" 
 
 Again, a painful pause ensued. 
 
 But Willa was recovering her usual aplomb. 
 
 "I have often wanted to see you together," 
 she said boldly, half -defiantly. "I always won- 
 dered what sort of a couple you would make." 
 
 "Oh!" exclaimed her mother, in exaspera- 
 tion. 
 
 "You did, eh?" demanded her father, grimly. 
 
 "Well, that's the worst of having one's 
 parents divorced, isn't it?" she asked airily. 
 "I believe, I'd lots rather have one of them 
 dead." 
 
 102
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Willa!" cried Mrs. Hendrix. 
 
 "My child!" admonished Mr. Chase. 
 
 The girl tossed her head, laughingly. 
 
 ' ' I didn 't mean to be horrid, ' ' she said. * ' Of 
 course, I wouldn't have either of you dead, for 
 the world." 
 
 "Well, that's nice of you," commented Mr. 
 Chase, gratefully. 
 
 "You don't do sarcasm well, father," Willa 
 retorted. 
 
 Mrs. Hendrix gathered up her skirts, gave a 
 touch to her hair, and spoke tentatively : 
 
 "I think, Willa, that I'll" But, if the 
 woman's intention had been departure, her 
 daughter did not aid its execution. On the 
 contrary, she held her mother in the room, 
 actually helpless from shock and astonish- 
 ment, for the girl gazed fixedly with grave eyes, 
 and said: 
 
 "I've thought a lot about it, and, somehow, 
 I don't like it your living away from us liv- 
 ing with another man." 
 
 "Willa!" 
 
 103
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Come, dear!" interrupted her father, 
 sharply. 
 
 But their child only shook her finger severely 
 at the twain, and continued : 
 
 * ' Eemember, this is the first family party I 
 can remember, and it may be the last. So, I'm 
 going to have my say out." 
 
 "Willa!" protested her mother again. 
 Chase fell back, with a gesture of utter help- 
 lessness. 
 
 "Oh, it's all very well for you, father," Willa 
 continued, warmly. * ' You got what you wanted 
 and mother got what she wanted. But no- 
 body asked me what I wanted. Now, I'm the 
 one to suffer. That's just it with a divorce 
 the innocent suffer. I tell you," she went on 
 briskly, with an indignant glance that shot 
 from one to the other of her painfully amazed 
 auditors, "I'm tired of parents on the install- 
 ment plan. I " 
 
 "Willa!" thundered her father. But the in- 
 trepid daughter waved his authority petulantly 
 aside. 
 
 104
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "I tell you," she reiterated, "I don't like it 
 one bit. It embarrasses me. And what's 
 more, mother, what you said about my going 
 out into society, and about father's possibly 
 marrying again, put me all out. Why, ' ' she ex- 
 claimed, with an expression of horror, "sup- 
 pose suppose he should do it should marry 
 again! Heavens! And when you two make 
 such a nice looking couple, too ! I don't like it, 
 I tell you." 
 
 Her father had drawn back, evidently suffer- 
 ing an agony of embarrassment. But Willa's 
 attention just then centered on her mother. 
 
 "Indeed, mother," she cried, "you got one 
 divorce. Now, why can't you get another 
 and come back to us f Oh, that would be jolly ! 
 A nice family party! Wouldn't it just be 
 grand? A family party!" she held out her 
 hands, one toward Mrs. Hendrix, the other 
 toward John Chase, in a graceful gesture of 
 supplication. 
 
 "Willa!" her mother exclaimed, almost dis- 
 tracted. 
 
 105
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "My child!" cried her father, in futile, angry 
 protest. 
 
 It was at this psychological moment, as the 
 parents of the girl stood drawn from her, each 
 with a protesting hand put forward to still her 
 well-intentioned chatter, that a fourth person 
 appeared in the room. 
 
 "I hope I don't intrude," came a voice 
 softly; and, as they swiftly turned toward the 
 sound, a young, slender, fair-haired woman 
 stood in the door-way, her lovely eyes directed 
 inquiringly toward Chase. 
 
 At once, the man strode rapidly over to her. 
 The smile of his greeting was lovingly joyous. 
 
 "Intrude?" he cried to her. "You an in- 
 truder!" He caught her hand, and led her 
 toward his daughter. "Willa," he said anx- 
 iously, albeit with inviting tenderness and 
 love, "you said you needed a mother I've 
 brought you one." He wheeled then in the di- 
 rection of his former spouse. ' ' Mrs. Hendrix, ' ' 
 he said, with an odd emphasis, "my wife." 
 
 106
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 STEAINED KELATIONS 
 
 T F Mrs. Hendrix was momentarily thrown off 
 -- her poise by John Chase's announcement, 
 so that she gasped, Willa was even more de- 
 monstrative in her expression of astonish- 
 ment and displeasure. She openly and steadily 
 stared at the young woman before her. Then, 
 she stepped backward, looked at her father, and 
 lowered her eyes sulkily from his smiling nod in 
 confirmation of the import of what he had just 
 said. 
 
 "My name is Dorothy," said the gray-clad 
 bride to John Chase's daughter. "I hope we 
 shall be good friends." And then, as they 
 stood regarding each other, she of much the 
 same tall slenderness as was Willa herself, and 
 with plainly but a few years separating their 
 ages, she spoke again, gently: "Under the cir- 
 
 107
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 cumstances, it would be too absurd for you to 
 call me ' mother.' ' Yet, she leaned forward in 
 something like wistful expectation, even as she 
 spoke. But there was no kiss of kindly greet- 
 ing, for Willa coldly turned her cheek away. 
 Dorothy, plainly hurt, made, nevertheless, a 
 quick concealment of the fact. 
 
 "Yes, it would be too absurd," said Willa, 
 coldly. 
 
 Dorothy armed herself swiftly with a pre- 
 tense of gaiety. 
 
 "Yes, of course, it would," she laughed. 
 
 The bride turned then toward Mrs. Hen- 
 drix, and, by her ease of manner and by what 
 she said in this direction, furnished to the older 
 woman and her daughter the revelation that 
 the new Mrs. Chase was in complete ignorance 
 as to the identity of Mrs. Hendrix, and that 
 she probably knew nothing whatever of a di- 
 vorce. In all likelihood, she regarded John 
 Hendrix as a bona-fide widower, with no least 
 suspicion that he was a divorced man. 
 
 "It is a charming welcome home to meet so 
 108
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 soon a friend of Mr. Chase," the bride was say- 
 ing to the former wife ; * ' and to meet, also, my 
 daughter. ' ' 
 
 Mrs. Hendrix had taken Dorothy's hand; but, 
 now, she dropped it abruptly. The situation 
 was altogether too thrillingly sensational, she 
 found, to permit any satisfactory control of her 
 behavior. 
 
 "I hope you'll pardon my show of affection," 
 continued Mrs. Chase, with a half-bantering, 
 laughing manner, "but, you see, I've been a 
 mother such a short while, and, too, she is such 
 a great, big girl for such a young mother, that 
 well, I'm sure you think with me, she is 
 worth making a great deal over." 
 
 "I think so," said Mrs. Hendrix, quite ex- 
 pressionlessly. 
 
 Dorothy felt herself completely adrift in 
 storm-clouds, but she knew neither their pre- 
 cise source nor their direction. She could only 
 grope her way, in the hope of happily weath- 
 ering the tempest by some kindness of fate's 
 interposition. 
 
 109
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "You hear Mrs. Hendrix?" she demanded, 
 smilingly, of her husband. "Now, you see, 
 when I take Willa's part against you, I shall 
 have a backer. When you think her wrong, I '11 
 refer you to Mrs. Hendrix." 
 
 "I'll always take Willa's part, I promise 
 you," said Mrs. Hendrix, with an explosive 
 promptness. 
 
 "I know you will, dear," said the daughter 
 fondly, regarding her parent. 
 
 * ' See ! ' ' said Dorothy, with a playfully warn- 
 ing finger pointing at Chase. "Be warned." 
 
 The husband would have liked to encourage 
 this mood of gaiety, but, in attempting it, he 
 only succeeded in smiling very wryly, as he 
 said: 
 
 ' ' Oh, yes I quite understand. ' ' 
 
 The new Mrs. Chase felt that somehow an 
 effected support had failed dismally. She 
 sought other relief, and looked around the 
 room with a kindling eye. 
 
 "What a beautiful red library this is!" she 
 exclaimed. "I'm in love with it, already. 
 
 110
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Don't you " she turned to Mrs. Hendrix and 
 Willa, but found such blank eyes regarding her 
 that she added quickly, by way of recovery 
 "but, then, you've seen it so often." 
 
 Mrs. Hendrix turned a cold eye on her sur- 
 roundings. 
 
 "I do not think it has changed in ten years," 
 she said. 
 
 "Changed the idea!" exclaimed the bride, 
 warmly. "It would be a crime to change this 
 dear old room." She turned eagerly toward 
 John Chase. "I'm so anxious," she said with 
 youthful enthusiasm, "to take off my things 
 and roam over the whole house, to explore 
 to explore home," she ended, tenderly. "I'm 
 afraid," she went on, with a little nod toward 
 Mrs. Hendrix, "that you'll think I'm horribly 
 youthful and domestic." 
 
 "I believe," returned the other woman, 
 "those are qualities usually admired." 
 
 During this inauspicious interval, John 
 Chase's uneasiness had become poignant. It 
 was unfair to the young woman whom he had 
 
 111
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 brought to preside in his home that she should 
 be abandoned to do all this difficult ice-break- 
 ing alone. But he had stood with clumsy help- 
 lessness in the presence of the three women 
 until this moment. Now, at last, however, he 
 entered to her aid. 
 
 "Willa," he said, with a great effort toward 
 ease, "suppose you take your mother " He 
 stopped, his face reddening; his tongue was 
 clamped by the queer situation. "With earnest 
 endeavor, he made a fresh start: "Suppose 
 you take Dorothy upstairs, and show her about. 
 Mrs. Hendrix will excuse you. ' ' 
 
 Eebellion flared in Willa's eyes, but Dorothy 
 disarmed the girl by frankly asking: 
 
 "Will you? I I'd like to lay aside my 
 hat." 
 
 " Certainly, " the girl responded, with the 
 civility of gentle breeding coming upper- 
 most. 
 
 Mrs. Hendrix bowed a formally gracious ac- 
 ceptance of the situation. 
 
 "This is good of you," cried Dorothy con- 
 112
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 fidentially to Willa. "I do want to talk to you. 
 There is so much to explain!" 
 
 Willa 's slender form stiffened perceptibly. 
 
 "Yes,"- she said, "there is a great deal to ex- 
 plain. ' ' 
 
 The shaft was not lost on Dorothy. She felt 
 its sting, but admirably maintained her smiling 
 manner, as the two departed from the library, 
 and left John Chase there, facing his former 
 wife. 
 
 113
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE FATE OP THE CHILD 
 
 CHASE looked up, and, without ceremony, 
 waved his hand toward the door, asking: 
 
 "You are going?" 
 
 But Mrs. Hendrix faced her former husband 
 squarely, with a negative shake of the head. 
 
 "Not until I settle with you about Willa 
 her future," she said decisively. 
 
 "Willa is my child," he retorted; and his 
 voice was rancorously stern. 
 
 "And mine!" she asserted, strongly. 
 
 "For ten years, you never even asked to see 
 her," returned Chase, scornfully. "This new 
 maternal longing in you is as delightful to con- 
 template as it is surprising." 
 
 "How did I know that you would allow it?" 
 she asked, defensively. 
 
 ""When she was ill four years ago," he an- 
 115
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 swered bitterly, "I wrote you I telegraphed 
 you. There was no answer. ' ' 
 
 "I didn't know," she declared. 
 
 Chase was unyielding. 
 
 "You didn't know," he said, "that she would 
 grow up into a young woman who would be 
 a credit to anyone." 
 
 Mrs. Hendrix grew indignant. 
 
 "And, now," she said, "at the most critical 
 moment of her life, you would crush her with 
 a step-mother." 
 
 ""Well, apparently," the man retorted, "she 
 must have a step-parent Mrs. Chase or Mr. 
 Hendrix. I prefer Mrs. Chase." 
 
 The woman was clearly angry now. 
 
 "You have not acted fairly," she cried. 
 "You told Willa nothing of your marriage, and 
 I've just met your wife; and it was very plain 
 that she did not know who I was. ' * 
 
 "No!" agreed Chase, emphatically. 
 
 "I don't believe you ever told her you were 
 divorced ! ' ' 
 
 "No," he agreed. 
 
 116
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 At this bald confession of reticence, the 
 woman glared at him. 
 
 "So!" she exclaimed. "You just killed me 
 off, I suppose?" 
 
 "I shall tell her the truth," Chase said, with 
 a keen glance; "all of the truth." 
 
 The ex-wife winced perceptibly at this. She 
 turned from him; doubt and confusion were in 
 her eyes. But she had determination. 
 
 "You will not give Willa to me?" she asked. 
 
 ' ' You made a bargain, ' ' he said. ' ' Now, live 
 up to it." 
 
 "But" 
 
 "You were willing to allow me the child," 
 said Chase, emphatically, "on condition that I 
 would not contest the suit. You could never 
 have got a divorce, if I had opposed it. What 
 could you have brought against me ? Nothing ! ' ' 
 
 "True," she said, with her woman's method 
 of reply when left without reasonable retort. 
 "You were always a cold fish, always in the 
 right, of course. I guess that's why I came 
 to hate you." 
 
 117
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Hendrix is not always in the right?" he 
 asked, with an ironic expression in the eyes. 
 
 ''How what!" she began, angrily. 
 
 ''I beg your pardon," he said coldly. "I 
 should not have criticized your husband. ' ' 
 
 "I know you hate him," she cried; "but " 
 
 ' ' Oh, no ; I never hate a man who does me a 
 service," he said, significantly. 
 
 Mrs. Hendrix 's bosom heaved. 
 
 "You are nasty enough sometimes," she as- 
 serted, "to be a woman." 
 
 Chase turned from her, with a gesture of 
 impatience. 
 
 1 i This discussion is futile, ' ' he said. * ' Let us 
 drop it." 
 
 "If he did you a service," she continued 
 tenaciously, "why don't you pay for it by giv- 
 ing me the child my child?" 
 
 The man laughed at her. 
 
 "That would be a Hendrix bargain," he an- 
 swered. 
 
 Then, he stepped toward her, his face set- 
 tling into stern lines, his eyes hardening. 
 
 118
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "No," lie said, deliberately; "you are no 
 more fit now to have the care of her at nineteen 
 than you were when she was nine. You did not 
 leave me ten years ago because you disliked 
 me. That was incidental. You left for social 
 ambition for money. It was a deal you un- 
 derstand? a mere commercial transaction, one 
 of Hendrix's bargains. He bought you for so 
 much. It was arranged between you while you 
 were yet my wife." 
 
 "John Chase," she cried at him in return, 
 "you mean to insult " 
 
 * * No no ! " he answered, impatiently. * i Oh, 
 you did not break the commandment. I know 
 that. You would have been a better woman if 
 you had. I would have respected you more. 
 It's no more moral credit to collect the price 
 in advance it's merely better business." 
 
 She had fallen back from him, and was lean- 
 ing hard upon the library table. In all her 
 life, she had never found herself in such an 
 emotional tumult. 
 
 "Your talk proves," she retorted, collecting 
 119
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 herself, "that you are not fit to have charge 
 of a young girl's bringing up." 
 
 "Your actions," he answered, gravely and 
 calmly, "have proved your unworthiness. Ten 
 years ago, you sold Willa for your freedom, 
 just as, if I were to give her to you now, you'd 
 sell her over again for money and cheap social 
 honor. At best," he went on, with increasing 
 intensity, "the love of man and woman is apt 
 to be transient. But, when the mother fails " 
 He made a gesture of complete condemnation. 
 When he spoke again, it was in a softer key, 
 with the vehemence dismissed. "Oh, it's all a 
 part with the rest," he said. "In ten years of 
 our married life, I never heard the word 'ideal' 
 from your lips. You never even thought it." 
 
 She shrugged her shoulders, replying: 
 
 "I'm not a poet, or a dreamer." 
 
 "No," he responded bitterly; "you are one 
 of Hendrix's bargains." 
 
 "That is neither here nor there," she an- 
 swered. "But, if you've the girl's interest 
 really at heart, why not consider the practical 
 
 120
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 side? Compared to me, what can you give her? 
 What position will she marry into f What will 
 she become?" 
 
 "She will marry," he said, his voice going 
 deep and low with the force of a great feeling, 
 "into the position of a loved wife, to become, 
 please God, the mother of a good man's chil- 
 dren. ' ' 
 
 "And who, pray," Mrs. Hendrix demanded 
 sarcastically, "will teach her your poet's 
 dream?" 
 
 "The woman you saw here a real woman, 
 a woman " His speech concluded with an ex- 
 pression of his eyes and a movement of his 
 hands, bespeaking an inability to justly describe 
 the perfection that he had in mind. 
 
 "Willa's no longer a child," her mother ob- 
 served tartly. "She's nearly a woman herself. 
 In two years, she can choose. That was the 
 arrangement, you remember. At twenty-one, 
 she is to be allowed to choose " 
 
 ' * Yes ; you put that in then, to save your self- 
 respect." 
 
 121
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "At twenty-one " she repeated. 
 
 "At twenty-one, " lie said defiantly, "she can 
 choose between us. Meanwhile " 
 
 His certainty of voice as he said this, indicat- 
 ing as it did that he was fearless of the direc- 
 tion his daughter's choice would take, angered 
 the woman beyond bounds. 
 
 "You colossal egotist!" she fairly shouted at 
 him. 
 
 "We'll see," he said, quietly. 
 
 122
 
 CHAPTEE XII 
 
 "OBEY YOUE STEP-MOTHEB, DEAR!" 
 
 IT was at this juncture of understanding be- 
 tween Willa's mother and father that the 
 girl returned with her youthful step-mother. It 
 was easy to see that the two young women stood 
 in no more sympathetic relationship with each 
 other than when they had left the room. Dor- 
 othy was still bent on being friendly and agree- 
 able; Willa was still holding herself merely 
 within the bounds of perfunctory civility. 
 
 "Father," said Willa, "Mr. Johnson wishes 
 to speak to you on the telephone. He was here 
 this morning to see you." 
 
 "Johnson? Oh, yes; I remember. If you 
 will excuse me!" Chase left the room hur- 
 riedly. Dorothy stood between Mrs. Hendrix 
 and Willa, wholly without a defender. 
 
 "I think upstairs is just perfect," she es- 
 123
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 sayed. "Willa, your room is a dream. Don't 
 you think it splendid, Mrs. Hendrix ? ' ' 
 
 "I I cannot recall the arrangement very 
 well," said the older woman, coldly. 
 
 "Everything of yours is so much finer 
 handsomer!" said Willa, deprecatingly, to her 
 mother. 
 
 "Finer! Handsomer?" queried Dorothy. 
 "What has fineness or handsomeness got to do 
 with it, dear? It's the the the atmosphere 
 that makes the home." She laughed de- 
 lightedly. "This is home!" she declared. 
 
 Mrs. Hendrix smiled openly. 
 
 "Mrs. Chase is very adaptable," she said to 
 Willa; "quickly acclimated, I should say." 
 
 Willa permitted herself the expression of a 
 disagreeable half -smile. 
 
 The young wife, however, held herself well 
 in hand. She would not allow herself to be 
 betrayed into notice of the taunt. 
 
 "I believe I like this best of all," she went 
 on happily, looking around the library. Her 
 eye caught sight of the picture over the mantel. 
 
 124
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Oh," she cried, "I didn't notice that!" She 
 moved over quickly for a closer view. "Why, 
 it's you Willa! How sweet! And, oh, yes, 
 you were a little beauty, even then. And who 
 is this lady? Why," she exclaimed, all un- 
 suspiciously, "it's Mrs. Hendrix." 
 
 "Yes," interrupted Willa flatly, unsparingly, 
 "it's my mother." 
 
 "Your !" Dorothy's calm, which she had 
 been so long fighting to maintain indeed, ever 
 since she had first stepped into the library and 
 into sight of Mrs. Hendrix and the girl broke 
 completely. Her eyes confessed her dismay. 
 "You Mrs. Hendrix, Willa 's mother! This 
 this is a surprise!" She tried to laugh. 
 With all a woman's pathetic desire, she tried 
 bravely and failed. 
 
 "Why, this is ridiculous!" she said. But 
 there was a catch in her voice as she uttered 
 the commonplace words. 
 
 "Very ridiculous!" assented Mrs. Hendrix, 
 without any effort toward a propitiatory smile. 
 
 * ' How absurd how presuming I have been ! ' ' 
 125
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 interjected the new Mrs. Chase. l 'You will for- 
 give, won't you?" she said, addressing them 
 both. "Believe me, I had no idea." She 
 paused with clasped hands. "Now, what shall 
 we do?" she asked, glancing from one to the 
 other, but still meeting no response of at- 
 tempted encouragement. 
 
 "Yes," said Mrs. Hendrix, "now, what shall 
 we do for our daughter?" 
 
 "I have been unpardonably rude brutal al- 
 most," said the bride, painfully. "My only 
 excuse must be that I did not know. All this 
 is a great surprise." 
 
 "Yes," said Willa uncompromisingly to her. 
 "But you are not the only one surprised to- 
 day." 
 
 Dorothy stared at her. 
 
 "You mean you mean, you knew nothing of 
 your your father did not write of of our 
 marriage ? ' ' 
 
 "No, he did not." The girl made the an- 
 nouncement with the frank brutality of youth. 
 
 Mrs. Hendrix broke in, with a manner flip- 
 126
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 pantly sarcastic: "Geniuses are proverbially 
 careless eccentric," she remarked; and then, 
 with significance: "too eccentric for some 
 women." 
 
 Dorothy ignored Mrs. Hendrix; but she im- 
 pulsively put out her hand to Willa. 
 
 "Willa, I am so sorry! Believe me " 
 
 Yet, Willa drew away; her manner was only 
 too plainly repellent. 
 
 ' ' I think father has acted very strangely and 
 meanly toward me," she declared. 
 
 "But he loves you dearly, Willa," Dorothy 
 cried, hastily. 
 
 "He did love me," cried the girl, bitterly. 
 "I have never seen this side of his love before." 
 
 "The illusions of youth fade as one grows 
 older, my child. You are just at the age when 
 a girl first really knows her parents. The 
 courts have provided for your mature choice." 
 Thus spoke Mrs. Hendrix, with a charming 
 smile, directly to her daughter. 
 
 But Dorothy intervened. Now that she fully 
 understood the meaning of the storm-clouds that 
 
 127
 
 had hovered from her very entrance into John 
 Chase's home life and secrets, she had dignity 
 and calm in resource with which to face the 
 situation. 
 
 ''Whatever fault there is, dear," she said to 
 Willa, "I beg you to lay it to me. I I 
 should have written. Your father's tenderness 
 and care for you for nineteen years put his love 
 for you beyond question, his actions beyond any 
 necessity of defense to you. The courts de- 
 cided on the proper one to have charge of your 
 bringing up." 
 
 "I fear our daughter will be sadly muddled," 
 said Mrs. Hendrix, and she permitted herself 
 to sniff disdainfully. "However, Willa," she 
 continued, with a smile of false sweetness, 
 "Obey your step-mother, dear. I hope you will 
 pardon the intrusion, Mrs. Chase. Good-morn- 
 ing." 
 
 "Good-morning, Mrs. Hendrix," said Dor- 
 othy, with frank relief. 
 
 "I'll go to the door with you, mother dear," 
 Willa declared, tenderly. 
 
 128
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Mother and daughter met John Chase at the 
 door. Mrs. Hendrix bowed slightly, and Willa 
 openly drew from her father and closer to her 
 mother. A pang of fear shot through the man 
 as he looked after the two. The trouble was 
 in his eyes as he turned to meet the reproachful 
 gaze of his young wife. 
 
 129
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE NEW "MOTHER' 
 
 did not send the letter I wrote to 
 Willa," Dorothy said to him. . . . 
 Chase did not reply. "Why did you not send 
 it?" she persisted. "And, above all, why did 
 you not write yourself?" 
 
 "I did write," he said at last, helplessly. 
 
 "But, surely, she didn't get it. She said you 
 hadn't written to her." 
 
 "I did not send either letter yours or 
 mine. ' ' 
 
 "Why?" There was an innocent wonder in 
 her voice, and an ingenuous amazement showed 
 in her eyes. 
 
 "Well, I had written, asking her to come to 
 Nebraska to Lincoln. She refused. That 
 hurt me deeply." 
 
 "But Willa is young in knowledge and 
 130
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 views," his wife protested; "a mere child." 
 ''Sometimes, a spoiled child, I fear." 
 "But a dear child at heart, I'm sure," said 
 Dorothy, generously and warmly. "Anyone 
 could tell she has wonderful possibilities in her 
 nature. She is one who can be made or spoiled 
 so easily!" 
 
 "That's good of you, dear," declared Chase, 
 wholly charmed. "Don't you see, I did not 
 send those letters, because I knew Willa and 
 because you are you ! I knew that, with an even 
 chance, you must win her. I did not wish to 
 prejudice her." 
 
 Dorothy had walked over to one of the old, 
 wide leather chairs, into which she sank wear- 
 
 Hy. 
 
 "Her mother has seen to that," she said, 
 slowly. 
 
 "Her mother!" Chase almost shouted. 
 "Then" 
 
 Dorothy nodded her confirmation of his fear. 
 
 "Yes. A charming little family party, 
 wasn't it? We mothers and our daughter!" 
 
 132
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 She had tried to laugh, but her tones be- 
 trayed the bitterness that she felt. 
 
 ''Dorothy!" remonstrated Chase. 
 
 But, now, without effort to conceal the un- 
 pleasantness of the feeling that had swept over 
 her, his young wife went on: 
 
 "Don't you think you might have spared me 
 the humiliation of finding out for myself?" 
 
 "That woman!" cried Chase, furiously. 
 This woman, whom he had once loved devotedly, 
 had wronged him before ; she had made desolate 
 his home this former wife of his ; and, now, 
 like an evil spirit, she had come to becloud the 
 new sunshine of happiness that he had coaxed 
 into his home. This was the thought that 
 flashed through Chase's mind, distorting his 
 face with anger and indignation. 
 
 But Dorothy herself had grown calm. 
 
 "She is your child's mother. She is that! 
 Whatever else she may be, I cannot overcome 
 that." The young wife shook her head rue- 
 fully. "And I looked forward to this home- 
 coming so joyously! I thought this would be 
 
 133
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 an ideal home-coming that we three " But 
 what more she would have said, she found at 
 this moment quite beyond her powers of expres- 
 sion. She halted in speech, and simply looked 
 at him with pained and sorry eyes. 
 
 il Won't it be, dear, after all?" pleaded 
 Chase. "I think that we can make it ideal." 
 
 "Well, nothing has been spared to make it 
 complete at any rate," sighed the bride. 
 "Even the first wife on hand to welcome " 
 she paused, tapping the toe of her shoe "to 
 welcome and to warn, ' ' she concluded. 
 
 "Wife!" declared Chase, half beside himself. 
 "You are my wife! You are Willa's mother." 
 He put out his hands to her. "Oh, Dorothy, 
 don 't you fail me ! " he pleaded. " I Ve counted 
 on you for that Willa so needs a mother!" 
 
 "I'm afraid I can't be that now," said his 
 wife. 
 
 "Dorothy that woman " he began to 
 storm. 
 
 But the bride interrupted him, with a flare of 
 anger: 
 
 134
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "That woman she matters nothing to me. 
 Do you suppose I need you to tell me? I am 
 a woman myself. I can see what she is. It is 
 you you, who have deceived me who have 
 hurt me!" 
 
 John Chase impulsively moved toward her, 
 catching her in his arms. 
 
 "Dorothy, I I have hurt you?" 
 
 "Yes," she answered. "You you told me 
 nothing. You let me come here let me meet 
 her. Even then, you told me nothing." 
 
 "I couldn't tell you then," he protested. 
 
 She shook her head, unconvinced. 
 
 "You might have prevented me from making 
 a fool of myself kept me from prejudicing 
 your daughter, at the outset. It will take 
 years to win back what I lost with her this 
 morning. ' ' 
 
 Even as Dorothy spoke, Willa, returning 
 from bidding farewell to her mother, paused at 
 the library entrance. Unseen by them, she 
 scanned her father and his bride with childish 
 sullenness. Then, vouchsafing no word of her 
 
 135
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 presence, she passed on with stiff, uncompro- 
 mising bearing. 
 
 "Why, Dorothy," Chase was saying at the 
 time, "she can't care for that woman, who 
 never cared even to see her for ten years. ' ' He 
 drew her more closely into his arms. "You 
 help me keep her keep my daughter, my little 
 girl. Won't you, Dorothy?" 
 
 But Dorothy was, naturally, thinking chiefly 
 of herself just then. 
 
 "Now, I'm married and you have deceived 
 me. Oh, John, how could you! Why did 
 you?" 
 
 ' ' Dorothy my wife ! " he appealed to her in 
 alarm. 
 
 But she stood unrelenting, with eyes set, face 
 aggrieved, wholly unsympathetic to his plea. 
 
 "Willa oh, Willa!" sang a strong young 
 voice, by way of the butler's pantry. At the 
 sound of it, Dorothy's face underwent a quick 
 transition. She looked up in alarm, half-puz- 
 zled. Young Hendrix came bounding into the 
 room with a lover's eagerness. Of course, as 
 
 136
 
 lie realized the presence of Mr. Chase and this 
 woman, he stopped short. 
 
 1 ' Oh I I beg your pardon, ' ' he said. And 
 then, his eyes wide with surprise, he cried, 
 "Why Dor Miss Elliott!" 
 
 Chase looked in angry astonishment at the 
 young man who had entered so suddenly and so 
 unceremoniously by way of the butler's pantry 
 a young man whom he did not know at all. 
 
 Dorothy, laughing, agitated, further aston- 
 ished her husband by holding out a somewhat 
 trembling hand to the arrival. 
 
 ' ' This is a day of surprise, ' ' she said. ' ' Why 
 I haven't seen you, Jack Hendrix, since three 
 years ago in Lincoln." 
 
 At this impetuous statement, Chase openly 
 scowled on the handsome young fellow, who 
 stood vis-a-vis with his newly-won wife. 
 
 Dorothy, with ease nearly recovered, contin- 
 ued: 
 
 "Let me introduce you to my husband, Mr. 
 Chase Mr. Hendrix." 
 
 137
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE BOSS 
 
 r INHERE had never come anything more than 
 -L a truce in the relations between Willa and 
 Dorothy in the months that followed the young 
 wife's advent into the Chase household. It had 
 not been a well-kept truce either, on Willa 's 
 part. Occasionally, a shot of satire or petulance 
 cracked sharply in the tense atmosphere. 
 
 Had Willa been left without outside influ- 
 ence in the matter, it is wholly probable that, 
 in the end, Dorothy and she would have been 
 good friends. Certainly, the youthful step- 
 mother left no stone of graciousness unturned. 
 And Willa, spoiled by her father's indulgence, 
 full of admiration for the gorgeous mother who 
 was denied her, but whom from time to time she 
 surreptitiously saw, secretly found much to like, 
 much that was gentle and admirable, in Dor- 
 
 138
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 othy. But, in the tempestuous emotionalism 
 of youth, she kept alive her feeling of resent- 
 ment, and that usurpation of the first place in 
 her father's love which the other woman held 
 offended her always. Persistently, she refused 
 to consider the essential differentiation in the 
 character of this love. Moreover, were she 
 ever ready and willing to concede Dorothy the 
 wife's due place and position, there was always 
 the influence of her mother an influence deftly 
 and resentfully used against John Chase, to 
 keep constantly in the girl's mind a sense of 
 loss. It was the mother's purpose to make her 
 child realize that she, who could have done 
 so much to make her daughter's life brilliant 
 socially, was denied the exercise of her power. 
 
 Young Mrs. Chase, returning from a round 
 of afternoon calls, sought the library, her favor- 
 ite room. There was pleased anticipation in 
 her eyes as, addressing Maria, she said : 
 
 "Serve tea here. I don't expect anyone but 
 Mr. Chase and Willa to-day. And Mr. Chase 
 has he come home ! ' ' 
 
 139
 
 "No, ma'am." 
 
 "Or anyone called for me?" 
 
 "No, ma^am. But an express package came 
 for you from Lincoln, Nebraska." 
 
 Dorothy was openly delighted with this news. 
 
 "Then, it did come. Good! Bring it in 
 here, Maria, without opening it." Then, as 
 Maria turned to go, she recalled the servant. 
 "Say nothing to anyone about that package, 
 Maria. You see," she said, with a smile; "it's 
 a birthday present for Mr. Chase a surprise. ' ' 
 
 "Oh, no, ma'am!" said Maria, enchanted by 
 her mistress's confidence. "I wouldn't say 
 nothing indeed, ma'am, I wouldn't." 
 
 When she stood alone, Dorothy looked at the 
 old clock of the library, and then hastened to 
 the telephone. 
 
 "Cortlandt, 4,507," she called. "Is that 
 4,507, Cortlandt? Speak with Mr. Chase, 
 please." She looked surprised and irritated. 
 "Why this is Mrs. Chase." As silence fol- 
 lowed on the other end, she murmured: 
 ' ' Whom did he suppose it was ? Oh, is that you, 
 
 141
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 John? This is Dorothy. The boy seemed to 
 think it was someone else. Oh, yes! I know 
 they have to ask. But that doesn't mean that 
 I get used to it, or like the idea of being bullied 
 by the office boy. I never had to ask in Lincoln, 
 you know. ' ' 
 
 "Well, what is it, dear?" came Chase's voice 
 laughingly back at her. 
 
 "Well er well, to tell the truth, nothing," 
 she laughed back at him, "except why are you 
 so late? Oh, dear, one would think John, my 
 husband, that, among your other inventions, 
 you had a patent on the word ' business. ' And 
 besides, this is your birthday, John, and I have 
 a surprise for you come all the way from 
 home from Lincoln." She laughed gaily. 
 "No not mother," she called to him, "it's a 
 pleasant surprise." But, instantly afterward, 
 she looked troubled. * * Oh, I 'm so sorry, dear ! ' ' 
 she continued. "I hope it isn't serious. Oh, 
 then you mean of course of course, I know 
 you can't talk over the 'phone. But come up 
 as quickly as you can just as soon as you get 
 
 142
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 through with the lawyer. Tell me all about it. 
 I hope it is not as bad as you think. Good-by. ' ' 
 
 John Chase turned with a refreshed smile 
 from this little talk with his gracious young 
 wife, for the conversation had broken into an 
 afternoon of keen business cares. Dorothy left 
 the telephone, looking helpless and worried at 
 certain news he had given her. She was hardly 
 prepared, hardly armed with her usual patience, 
 when Willa entered. So she bowed slightly, 
 and left the room. The girl, just returning 
 from a walk, and looking rosy and fresh under 
 her large, black-plumed hat, nearly collided 
 with Maria, who was industriously bearing the 
 flat, square express package from Lincoln, Ne- 
 braska. 
 
 Willa was in good spirits from her walk. 
 She laughed as she dodged the picture. Then, 
 as Maria placed it carefully against the wall, 
 she said : 
 
 * ' Oh, Maria, serve tea downstairs will you ? 
 I expect Mr. Hendrix, and, perhaps, Miss 
 Thomas. Better make it for five," she added, 
 
 143
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 as an afterthought. "And it's late, Maria. 
 So, hurry, please." 
 
 "Excuse me, Miss Willa," said the servant, 
 "but Mrs. Chase told me to serve tea up here, 
 for you, and Mr. Chase and her." 
 
 Maria's days were now full of indecision, as 
 was to have been expected in one seeking to 
 serve two mistresses. 
 
 "But I told you " Willa began angrily. 
 She cut herself short, however, and compressed 
 her lips. 
 
 "Well, you know," wheedled the privileged 
 Maria ; "I have to do what she tells me. She's 
 the" 
 
 "You mean," said Willa, her eyes narrowing, 
 "that she is what you call 'the boss'?" 
 
 "Well, yes, Miss," Maria admitted. "You 
 know what he told me last time about the 
 dogs?" she hastened to add, defensively. 
 "You'll speak to her won't you, Miss Willa?" 
 
 "Oh, serve it anywhere," exclaimed the girl, 
 in a gust of angry impatience. "Serve it on 
 the roof, if you like. Anyway " she looked 
 
 144
 
 THE SECOND WIPE 
 
 toward the flat, square package, "I see my pres- 
 ent for daddy has come. ' ' 
 
 "No, Miss Willa, this package is for Mrs. 
 Chase." 
 
 "For Mrs. Chase? What is it?" 
 
 "I don't know, Miss Willa. She told me not 
 to say anything about it." 
 
 "Oh!" said Willa. She turned from con- 
 templation of it with assumed indifference. 
 "Well, I'm expecting a package, too, Maria." 
 
 "It's downstairs, Miss. It came while you 
 were out." 
 
 The girl's annoyance of the moment was all 
 forgotten, and she clapped her hands. 
 
 "That's great!" she exclaimed. "It's a 
 birthday present for father a surprise! 
 Don't say anything about it, Maria. Just bring 
 it up here, at once." 
 
 "Yes, Miss," said the servant. Then, the old 
 woman stood aside from the doorway at the en- 
 trance of Mrs. Chase. 
 
 145
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 CLOUDS HOVER 
 
 meeting of the young step-mother and 
 -- the still more youthful step-daughter 
 wrought an involuntary change in the manner 
 of both, as their coming together always did. 
 There were invariably the self-consciousness 
 and the discomfort of the strain to be nice and 
 natural toward each other. 
 
 1 'Did you have a pleasant walk?" asked Dor- 
 othy. 
 
 "Very pleasant, thank you." The answer 
 came with an artificial agreeableness of utter- 
 ance. 
 
 Young Mrs. Chase cast helpless, uninspired 
 eyes around the room. 
 
 "I wonder if it will rain," was the best re- 
 sult she got out of a great effort. 
 
 "Probably sometime," said Willa. De- 
 146
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 spite herself, she added the last word, and she 
 found herself ' intensely annoyed by it, in its 
 aspect of a jibe. 
 
 Then, Dorothy, all unconsciously, fell athwart 
 a storm. 
 
 "I thought it would be nice to have tea up 
 here this afternoon," she said. "It's your 
 father's birthday, you know." 
 
 This reminder, administering a quick hurt at 
 the idea that she could possibly have forgotten 
 such an event, caused a complete breakdown of 
 Willa's resolution to be nice. 
 
 "Of course, I know it's father's birthday," 
 she exclaimed, indignantly. There was a world 
 of outraged filial affection in the girl's voice as 
 she spoke. 
 
 Dorothy bit her lip, to suppress any display 
 of her annoyance at Willa's tone. 
 
 "I didn't mean to imply that you had for- 
 gotten it, dear," she said, as gently as she could. 
 "That would be too absurd!" 
 
 "Eather!" observed Willa. After a pause, 
 she looked up, quizzically, at her step-mother. 
 
 147
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "As a matter of fact, I knew his birthday long 
 before you did, yon know," she said, curtly. 
 
 Dorothy, however, refused the challenge. 
 
 "I thought I would give him my present 
 at tea," she remarked, pleasantly. ''Why 
 couldn't we both give him ours together?" 
 
 "I've always been accustomed to giving 
 father his birthday present after dinner ; ' ' said 
 Willa, uncompromisingly. This bald statement 
 led to another awkward pause between the two 
 women. 
 
 "Well, I don't suppose it makes any real 
 difference," ventured Dorothy. 
 
 "Oh, I suppose he should get them when his 
 wife says so," sighed Willa. "We'll give them 
 to him at tea." 
 
 Maria entered now with Willa 's gift a pack- 
 age as evidently containing a picture as that 
 which Mrs. Chase intended for her husband, but 
 larger. 
 
 "Ah, your present, Willa?" questioned Dor- 
 othy. "Place it beside mine, Maria. What a 
 big present, Willa!" 
 
 148
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Well, he's my father." 
 
 "But you give him a bigger one than I do,'* 
 smiled Dorothy, in an attempt at lightness. 
 
 "You see, I've known him longer than you 
 have," asserted the young girl. 
 
 Dorothy still tried to be friendly. 
 
 "What is it the present, I mean?" 
 
 "What's yours?" came the curt query, as an 
 unhesitating riposte. 
 
 Dorothy hesitated. 
 
 * ' Mine 's a a ' * 
 
 "Well, mine's the same thing," said Willa, 
 hastily. "It's a surprise." 
 
 There was a rapid exchange of glances, which 
 became almost an open declaration of war. 
 But, just then, Maria intervened, asking: 
 
 "Where shall I serve tea, ma 'am I" 
 
 "I told you up here, Maria," said Mrs. 
 Chase, abruptly. 
 
 Maria looked covertly in Willa's direction. 
 
 "Sure an' you did, ma'am," the servant re- 
 plied to Mrs. Chase. "Excuse me for for- 
 getting. An' for how many, ma'am?" 
 
 149
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "For three, of course." 
 
 "I am expecting someone for tea, Dorothy," 
 interrupted Willa, defiantly. 
 
 "Willa!" remonstrated her step-mother. 
 "You're not having anyone to tea on your 
 father's birthday. You know, we are going to 
 give him his presents at tea." 
 
 "Heavens alive, Dorothy!" returned Willa, 
 surrendering to complete exasperation. * ' How 
 could I know they gave birthday presents at tea 
 in Lincoln, Nebraska!" 
 
 There was an appalled silence for a minute. 
 Then, the bride rose to the occasion. 
 
 "Who's coming Edith?" demanded Mrs. 
 Chase. 
 
 "Yes and Jack Hendrix," said Willa, chal- 
 lengingly. 
 
 "Willa!" 
 
 ' < Why not Jack Hendrix f ' ' sneered the young 
 girl, suddenly. "You've known him longer 
 than I have. You used to know him in Lincoln. 
 You know you did ! ' ' 
 
 "You know your father doesn't like him, 
 150
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Willa," asserted her step-mother, coloring rap- 
 idly. 
 
 "Well," said Willa; with a toss of the head, 
 "there are some persons my father likes whom 
 I don't!" 
 
 "Really?" The color on Dorothy's face 
 deepened to a tint approaching that of anger. 
 
 "Besides," said Willa, "I didn't intend that 
 father should meet Jack." 
 
 Mrs. Chase shook her head, reproachfully. 
 
 "It is a great concession your father has 
 made to let Jack Hendrix come to the house 
 at all, after his father has treated your father 
 as he has." 
 
 Willa retorted with bitterness : 
 
 "Please, don't remind me, Dorothy, that I 
 can receive Jack only because you asked father 
 to let him come." 
 
 "I am not reminding you of anything, Willa, 
 except that this is your father's birthday, and 
 that I will not have him annoyed." 
 
 "Well, you can't blame Jack, because father 
 and mother are divorced," cried the girl. 
 
 151
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "And it isn't my fault. Goodness knows, I 
 wish they weren't!" 
 
 "Willa, you forget yourself!" 
 
 "No, I don't forget myself. I don't forget 
 anything. I only wish I could!" 
 
 Dorothy arose. Her cheeks were flaming. 
 She crossed the room, and stood directly in 
 front of the girl. 
 
 "I haven't taken any of your love, Willa," 
 Dorothy protested., "He loves you, just the 
 same." 
 
 "Yes, a little of him loves me," stormed 
 Willa; "loves me when you are shopping, call- 
 ing or away not here and then, when any- 
 body does like me, you object. I don 't see why 
 you should object, but you do continually. You 
 have all his love. You object to Jack Hendrix's 
 liking me " 
 
 "I object," said Dorothy firmly, "to your 
 going to his studio, alone. I won't permit 
 that." 
 
 Willa gasped. 
 
 ' * Permit you won 't permit ! well ! ' ' Then, 
 152
 
 hotly, she said: "My mother was there! And 
 he was painting my picture!" 
 
 "Nevertheless, your father must choose your 
 associates, Willa." 
 
 "Do you mean that my mother is not fit for 
 me to associate with!" cried Willa, wilfully, 
 passionately. 
 
 "Willa, please don't be an idiot," cried Dor- 
 othy, abandoning conciliation as hopeless. 
 
 "Dorothy, don't you dare to say anything 
 against my mother, don't you dare to," the girl 
 insisted, defiantly. 
 
 "Willa, you are ridiculous!" the woman 
 frankly said. 
 
 "Oh, I'm ridiculous, am I!" cried Willa, 
 fiercely. "That may be what you think well, 
 mother doesn't think so. My mother takes an 
 interest in me she cares! Why, if she could, 
 she'd do what you can't do; and what father 
 won't do. She'd launch me in society, and 
 make me somebody and give me all her love, 
 besides." Willa paused breathless, but only to 
 flare anew. "You think I'm ridiculous, do 
 
 153
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 you? Just wait some day! I won't be able 
 to stand this just wait ! ' ' 
 
 "Willa!" cried Dorothy, in anger and dis- 
 may. 
 
 Thus was the storm raging persistently in 
 his household, when John Chase arrived home 
 for tea on the occasion of his birthday. 
 
 154
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 RIVALRY 
 
 , sweethearts," called the hus> 
 band and father from the library en- 
 trance. There had come a pause in the quarrel, 
 and "Willa 's voice, which had been raised high 
 in the stress of her anger, had not reached him 
 as he hurried from the street entrance to the 
 library. 
 
 The women faced each other awkwardly for 
 a second or more; then both turned impul- 
 sively, with something of appeal in the voice of 
 each. 
 
 "Father!" cried Willa. 
 
 "John!" cried Dorothy. 
 
 As both ran to him, Willa was a trifle in the 
 lead, and in her condition of supersensitive at- 
 tention to the comparison of every little detail 
 of her father's actions as between herself and 
 
 155
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 her young step-mother, her lips gave a wry 
 twist as she saw that her father's right arm first 
 encircled the waist of his wife even if it was 
 only a fraction of a second before she felt his 
 left arm, warm with affection, encircle her own 
 slender body. 
 
 John Chase was, in his big man's way, half- 
 unmindful of the psychic disturbances in the 
 household, although so intimate and vital. 
 
 "How are you, dears," he said exuberantly. 
 1 1 This is splendid getting back to the quiet of 
 home after downtown. Now, a little kiss from 
 both." He kissed Dorothy first, she returning 
 the embrace affectionately. But, when he 
 would have kissed Willa, he was surprised to 
 find that the girl turned her cheek away. 
 "No?" he questioned. "Aren't you going to 
 give father a little kiss, on his birthday? Now, 
 now " he pinched her cheek playfully "just 
 a little kiss." 
 
 Suddenly, the daughter flung her arms im- 
 pulsively about her father's neck, and held to 
 him so closely, so vigorously, that, for a mo- 
 
 156
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 merit, he was powerless to breathe. He laughed 
 as he released himself, crying: 
 
 "Don 't don 't, Willa, dearie ! You '11 choke 
 me! Dorothy! Help! "Would you see your 
 husband choked to death?" 
 
 Willa drew away, swiftly. 
 
 "You needn't call on Dorothy for help," she 
 remonstrated. 
 
 Her father regarded the girl in puzzled fash- 
 ion. And, as Willa shook her head angrily, 
 and started for the doorway, he cried: 
 
 "Willa Willa, dearie, come back! Choke 
 me to death, if you want to but come back." 
 
 The girl, however, only shook her head again, 
 and finally ran out of the room. 
 
 John Chase looked inquiringly at his young 
 wife. 
 
 "I I can't say, John, what's the matter. 
 You know Willa!" 
 
 "What's the matter with her?" the husband 
 asked, anxiously. "You haven't quarreled?" 
 
 Dorothy had no ready assurance, naturally, 
 that such had not been the case. It was a sub- 
 
 157
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 ject, in any event, to be avoided at his home- 
 coming on his birthday. 
 
 "Urn no just the same old thing ! Willa's 
 nineteen. I'm twenty-five and her step-mother. 
 I suppose step-daughters and step-mothers are 
 natural enemies." 
 
 John Chase took her hand, and held it. 
 
 "Dorothy, I don't like to hear you talk like 
 that," he said, seriously. 
 
 "But, John," she protested gently; "nat- 
 urally, Willa resents my coming. Her mother 
 sees to that." 
 
 "Her mother!" he exclaimed. "I wish no 
 intimacy with Mrs. Hendrix!" 
 
 His wife shook her head, and smiled. 
 
 "We are not in the Middle Ages, John," she 
 answered. "We are in the age of divorce 
 and in New York. Do as New York does ! ' ' 
 
 "There's a right of blood," asserted John 
 Chase, "above any right of divorce." 
 
 "Yes," she assented; "Willa's mother tells 
 her that about every time they meet." 
 
 John Chase had nothing to say to that. He 
 158
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 strode rapidly up the room, and down again. 
 He laid his hands on his wife's shoulders. 
 
 "Dorothy," he pleaded, "can't you adapt 
 yourself a little to Willa!" 
 
 "Adapt myself?" She had not meant the 
 tone to be harsh ; but it was. 
 
 "Yes you are so much older than Willa," 
 he reasoned. Incidentally, he reasoned very 
 crudely, since he was reasoning to a pretty 
 young woman. 
 
 "I'm not," she said, indignantly; "not so 
 very much older than Willa!" 
 
 "But you seem so much older!" he made 
 haste to say, smiling at his blunder. 
 
 "Why don't you say what you mean, then?" 
 she laughingly taunted. "Do I look so much 
 older, John?" 
 
 His reply was to catch her, and kiss her. 
 
 "Dorothy, I never stop wondering about it," 
 he said. 
 
 "Wondering about what?" 
 
 ' ' How did you ever come to marry an old fel- 
 low like me ? ' ' 
 
 160
 
 "Old fellow, indeed!" she said, patting his 
 cheek. 
 
 "I'm all of forty-five," he answered ruefully, 
 "and you " 
 
 "Now, John," she laughed, in her good-fel- 
 low way, which he found always to be so charm- 
 ing, "don't throw my youth and inexperience 
 in my face. Do you suppose I can possibly for- 
 get it with a nineteen-year-old reminder about 
 the house?" 
 
 "Nineteen-year-old reminder!" 
 
 Then, Dorothy spoke almost to herself, with 
 a meditative frown wrinkling her brows. 
 
 * ' I wonder if I would have married you, ' ' she 
 said, "had I seen you and Willa together? 
 Pretty hard problem, you know, for a young 
 girl to decide an old man with a nineteen- 
 year-old daughter!" 
 
 "Dorothy," he protested, "I'm only forty- 
 five!" 
 
 "Yes, but" 
 
 "Of course," he said, "I suppose had there 
 been any younger opposition " 
 
 161
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 His voice broke off in a sigh. 
 
 1 * John Chase, how dare you ! ' ' 
 
 "Oh, my dear, I didn't mean that you had 
 had any other lover!" 
 
 Again, he had blundered. A little flush 
 showed on the wife's cheeks. 
 
 "What!" she demanded. "Do you presume 
 to think that you were the only man to ask 
 me?" 
 
 He looked at her crestfallenly. 
 
 "You were in love before?" he asked. 
 
 "Well," she said frankly, "I was twenty-five 
 when you married me." Her tone made it ap- 
 parent that she regarded the assertion as a suf- 
 ficient answer to his question. 
 
 "Who were the others?" he asked, brusquely. 
 
 She smiled, and widened her eyes at him, 
 tantalizingly. 
 
 "What a memory you must think I have!" 
 she replied, demurely. 
 
 "Who were they?" he reiterated. But Dor- 
 othy merely shrugged her shoulders, and 
 
 162
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 maintained silence. "Let me see," he said. 
 "There was that red-headed Potts!" 
 
 "Well," she admitted, "I always adored red 
 hair." At this, the husband frowned. "But 
 think of getting a letter addressed, 'Mrs. 
 Potts' . . . Ugh!" 
 
 "And that ugly Johnson!" Chase went on. 
 
 "Ah!" Dorothy exclaimed, enthusiastically. 
 "Wasn't he fascinatingly ugly? And do you 
 know, John, some of the happiest moments of 
 my life have been spent riding with Dick John- 
 son?" 
 
 "Indeed!" Chase's ejaculation was charged 
 with displeasure. 
 
 "But, then," she conceded, "one can't ride 
 horseback through life can one?" 
 
 "Huh!" he grunted, in no way mollified. 
 "Let me think of some others." 
 
 "Well, now you've started me, I can think of 
 lots," she said, cheerfully. 
 
 "Really?" 
 
 "Yes. There was " 
 163
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "I remember one more," interjected Chase, 
 angrily. ' ' Young Hendrix. You knew him out 
 there. ' ' 
 
 This shot caused Dorothy to stop in her play- 
 ful excursion into memory. In fact, a marked 
 embarrassment came over her, and, had her 
 husband been keener at reading feminine 
 signs, he would have realized that here, at last, 
 he had touched upon a serious affair. 
 
 "Why, John why, you're absurd!" she 
 said, with an exaggerated manner of chaffing. 
 "Do you think everybody was in love with me, 
 just because you were? Why why, that 
 doesn't do any credit at all to your originality, 
 you know. ' ' 
 
 He lifted his head at the reassurance, and 
 flung himself into a chair with an action slightly 
 in the likeness of a swagger. 
 
 "Of course, I know," he said confidently, 
 "that you could never think twice of an im- 
 pertinent boy like that. But I noticed how 
 embarrassed he was, at the moment of meeting 
 you." 
 
 164
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 The wife went to him, and wreathed her arms 
 happily about his neck. 
 
 "You dear old thing!" she cried. 
 
 "Dear old thing !" 
 
 "I really do believe you're jealous!" she as- 
 serted, joyfully. 
 
 "I jealous!" he blustered. "The idea 
 absurd! But he does keep coming here." 
 
 "Naturally, he comes," she answered, with- 
 out consideration. l ' Willa 's in love with him ! ' ' 
 
 John Chase stared at his wife. His amaze- 
 ment was profound. 
 
 "What in love! With my Willa?" he de- 
 manded. He drew away, his face a mask of dis- 
 may. "Willa in love? That little girl 
 and with with Hendrix's son! I can't believe 
 it!" 
 
 165
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE NEW MOTHER'S QUANDARY 
 
 IT was some time before John Chase could 
 realize that what Dorothy had announced 
 was really true. Parents find it hard to realize 
 the growth into manhood of their sons; into 
 womanhood of their daughters. So, now, he 
 merely stared at his wife, repeating: 
 
 ' ' What f In love ! My Willa 1 ' ' 
 
 "Of course, she's in love. Didn't she have 
 the measles?" smiled Dorothy, at a loss to 
 appreciate her husband's overwhelming aston- 
 ishment. 
 
 "Well, then," he declared, "I'll stop this 
 foolishness I'll stop his coming here. Do you 
 think," he demanded further, and with increas- 
 ing wrath, ' ' that I can permit any intimacy be- 
 tween my daughter and the son of the man who 
 
 166
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 has been my bitterest enemy for years, who is 
 even now trying to steal my patents?" 
 
 "Steal?" Dorothy repeated, incredulously. 
 
 "Yes. Hendrix, through one of his com- 
 panies, has brought an injunction suit against 
 my patents, claiming infringements." 
 
 Dorothy shook her head, in puzzled fashion. 
 
 "I don't quite understand, John," she said, 
 "because, only yesterday, Jack Hendrix told 
 me that his father wanted to buy your patents, 
 and that it would be a good thing for you to 
 sell. Let me speak to Jack Hendrix, and clear 
 this matter up." 
 
 "Dorothy," exclaimed Chase, "you haven't 
 been discussing my business with young Hen- 
 drix?" 
 
 "Why, no, John, but" 
 
 "Speak to young Hendrix!" stormed Chase. 
 < Why, he is vice-president of the company that 
 brought the suit." 
 
 "What horrible injustice!" his wife ex- 
 claimed, sympathetically. "Can nothing be 
 done?" 
 
 167
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "I'll know to-night," he replied, frowning. 
 "A representative of the company will be here 
 to-night. That's what I meant over the 'phone 
 a while ago. They may just be trying to make 
 me sell cheap. But, if it's a fight " Chase 
 clenched his hands. 
 
 "Yes!" interrogated Dorothy. 
 
 Chase paused, and studied his wife's coun- 
 tenance tenderly. 
 
 "Could you live poorer, dear?" he asked. 
 "I mean, Dorothy, that I've staked every dollar 
 on this, and, if we lose " He broke off with 
 a hopeless gesture. 
 
 "Oh, I'm ashamed!" she cried, putting out 
 her hands to him. 
 
 "Ashamed?" 
 
 "Yes, I'm your wife. I love you, and I've 
 done nothing. I've just rattled on, while you 
 were in trouble. I've done nothing to help 
 nothing to give you courage. ' ' 
 
 "Why, just having you here that gives me 
 courage, as long as we are together," he pro- 
 tested, and his glance was very tender. 
 
 168
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "We'll be together, John, straight through, " 
 she told him, fondly. The kiss that followed 
 was interrupted by Maria, announcing : 
 
 ''Miss Thomas, ma'am." 
 
 Close upon the utterance of the visitor's 
 name, entered smart and pretty Miss Edith 
 Thomas. With her came a waft of perfume, 
 a rustle of skirts; and her eyes were smiling. 
 She answered the greetings of the host and 
 hostess in her graceful fashion of breeziness: 
 
 "How are Dorothy and Mr. Chase?" she 
 called. There was a kiss for the wife and a 
 hand-shake for the inventor. "Do I wish you 
 many happy returns?" she asked him. "You 
 haven't joined the never-have-any-more-birth- 
 days club, have you?" 
 
 "Not I!" 
 
 "Willa asked me to tea. Where is she?" 
 
 Chase, remembering Willa 's departure a 
 little while before, could not conceal some 
 traces of confusion. 
 
 "I think I think she's upstairs," he said, 
 uncertainly. "She she wasn't feeling very 
 
 169
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 well. Er I'll see if she's all right now if 
 you'll excuse me." 
 
 When he had gone, Edith asked frankly of 
 Dorothy : 
 
 "Now, what's the matter?" 
 
 "Oh, the same old thing," the step-mother 
 replied, wearily. "Willa seems to be jealous 
 of me. ' ' 
 
 Pretty Miss Thomas made a slight grimace. 
 
 "I hope," she said fervently, "that the Lord 
 will give me sense enough to pass up widowers 
 grass and sod." 
 
 "Edith!" 
 
 But Edith made no apology. 
 
 "Dorothy," said she, "why don't you marry 
 her off!" 
 
 * ' To whom f Jack Hendrix ? ' ' 
 
 "No," said Edith decisively; "I wouldn't do 
 that even to my step-child. Is she in love 
 with him?" 
 
 "Yes," Dorothy nodded. 
 
 "All right, then, we'll marry her off to him. 
 I'll do it." 
 
 170
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Dorothy, reclining in one of the big chairs, 
 examined the tiny tip of a neat slipper, 
 judiciously. 
 
 "Yes yes, dear," said she. "But, some- 
 time, probably, you'll be enough in love with 
 your husband to do only what he wants, even 
 if it hurts." 
 
 "Well, if that's love," said Miss Thomas, 
 "not for mine." 
 
 "Her father is crazy about Willa. It would 
 simply break his heart to lose her. And to 
 lose her to young Jack Hendrix that, I am 
 afraid, he would never consider never, for an 
 instant. ' ' 
 
 "So, you must break it up?" 
 
 "Yes," said Dorothy, unable to keep a tinge 
 of regret from her voice. 
 
 Miss Thomas stared at her friend from head 
 to feet, and back again. 
 
 "Dorothy," she asked, "how do you manage 
 to keep your temper with that girl? You used 
 to have such a frightful one yourself at school ! 
 Eemember I ' ' 
 
 171
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 " Getting married teaches you a lot of things, 
 old girl," laughed young Mrs. Chase; "that 
 is, if you love your husband." 
 
 "Oh, slush!" observed Miss Thomas, ir- 
 reverently. "You'll open up on her some day, 
 and my only hope is that, when it happens, I'll 
 be around. I think it will probably be a very 
 particularly interesting occasion." 
 
 "Nonsense!" remonstrated Dorothy. But, 
 immediately afterward, she wrung her slender 
 hands. ' ' Oh, I wish I knew what to do ! " she 
 cried. 
 
 Miss Edith Thomas sat suddenly upright. 
 Then, she clapped her hands, in delight over 
 the dawning of some brilliant idea. 
 
 "Why, I have it I have it," she hastened 
 to say. "Tell Willa about you and Jack in 
 Lincoln that will fix it. ' ' 
 
 When Edith cried, "I have it," Dorothy had 
 leaned forward eagerly, to give heed to the plan. 
 But, now, she collapsed in disgust. 
 
 "Yes," she assented ironically; "that would 
 fix it." 
 
 173
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "You bet it would!" gurgled Edith. "I can 
 just see Willa ! ' ' 
 
 "Yes," said Dorothy, solemnly; "so can I!" 
 
 "When she finds out that step-mamma and 
 lover used to be engaged oh, joy ! ' ' 
 
 "Good gracious, Edith, are you crazy?" 
 Dorothy protested. "Mr. Chase even doesn't 
 know about that silly old affair." 
 
 "No, indeed!" said Miss Thomas, winking. 
 "I hardly supposed that you had been fool 
 enough to tell him that you know how men are." 
 
 Dorothy patted back a few rebellious strands 
 of hair at her temple. 
 
 "Jack's been such a dear!" she commented. 
 "Never by a word or a look has he brought up 
 the subject. Eeally, Edith, I was terribly fool- 
 ish that summer, when he was painting scenes 
 around our home. ' ' 
 
 ' ' Oh, yes, ' ' assented Edith. ' ' Her first good- 
 looking young painter is always an epoch in a 
 girl's life." She smiled reminiscently, and 
 fluttered her slender gloved hand. "I sat for 
 Jack myself," she added, sympathetically. 
 
 174
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Nonsense!" was Dorothy's unappreciative 
 comment. "But, if father's terrible word-pic- 
 ture of Tom Hendrix had not obliterated the 
 effect of all Jack's efforts on canvas, there's no 
 telling " She shook her head dubiously. 
 
 "Isn't it interesting, dear," observed Miss 
 Thomas, "to talk over the ones we might have 
 had!" She giggled amusedly at this flippant 
 fancy. 
 
 "Well, he must not get Willa," said Dorothy, 
 with finality. 
 
 "Then, make her jealous. Drop a line. Let 
 her find out that you've been to his studio, 
 also. Forget, of course, that I was along. It 
 would certainly get a beautiful rise from a cer- 
 tain young lady. ' ' 
 
 "Good gracious, Edith! I have to live in 
 the house with Willa ! ' ' 
 
 "Well, it certainly would make living in- 
 teresting." Then, having plotted the most 
 maliciously she knew, Miss Thomas arose. 
 "Here's the devil now," she said, for Maria 
 had appeared to announce, "Jack Hendrix." 
 
 175
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Edith met the newcomer at the door, and 
 took her departure to find Willa. Jack Hen- 
 drix, bowed her out, then made his way to the 
 chair before which Dorothy was standing to 
 receive 
 
 176
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 EOSEMABY 
 
 " said young Hendrix, "how did 
 your father like the picture I ' ' 
 
 Dorothy colored at the question. 
 
 "I I haven't heard yet," said she. 
 
 "I shipped it to Lincoln last week," said he; 
 "but even the express is sometimes slow." 
 
 "I'm sure it must have got there," Dorothy 
 ventured. 
 
 "Then, father," he observed with a grimace, 
 "is probably too polite to say what he really 
 thinks of it." 
 
 She tapped the young man's arm. 
 
 "Silly!" she exclaimed. "It's splendid, and 
 you know it is. I'm almost tempted to give it 
 to my husband." 
 
 "Huh!" said Hendrix. "That is a com- 
 pliment. ' ' 
 
 177
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 ' * Would you mind ? ' ' she asked, with sudden 
 seriousness. 
 
 "Why, no," he replied, with equal gravity. 
 "I'd be delighted, on the contrary." 
 
 "You were a dear to finish it up," Dorothy 
 said. 
 
 "A dear to finish up the best thing I've 
 done?" demanded the artist. "What a pity 
 I was prevented from finishing it three years 
 ago! I realized that I was genuinely inspired 
 then. I'm afraid the finishing touches have 
 not been up to the original mark." 
 
 "Don't be ridiculous, Jack. You know you 
 paint much better now. Think how much older 
 you are." 
 
 "But the inspiration " he began, in con- 
 troversy. 
 
 "Oh, any fairly good-looking girl is an in- 
 spiration to you, Jack. Willa's portrait is 
 beautiful." 
 
 "Willa is beautiful," said the young man, 
 earnestly. He hesitated, and then added: 
 "By the way, pardon my mentioning it, but 
 
 178
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 she spoke of your objection to her being at the 
 studio. ' ' 
 
 "Yes alone." 
 
 "Oh!" He paused for reflection. "Does 
 she know that you also sat there 1 ?" 
 
 Dorothy shook her head negatively. 
 
 "I cautioned Edith not to say we were there. 
 No one, but Edith and myself, knows you were 
 painting me. I'd rather, for several reasons, 
 that Willa should not know." 
 
 "Certainly. No one shall know from me." 
 
 ' * Thanks. . . . And, now, Jack, I want to 
 talk to you very seriously." 
 
 "About Willa?" 
 
 "Yes, about Willa." 
 
 "Well," he said, taking a seat near his 
 hostess, "what is it you would say to me about 
 Willa?" 
 
 Dorothy regarded the young man for a few 
 seconds silently. Then, she put the critical 
 question abruptly: 
 
 "Jack, have you really asked Willa to marry 
 you?" 
 
 179
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Is this Willa's step-mother, officially asking 
 the impecunious suitor's intentions?" he re- 
 torted, with a quizzical smile. 
 
 "Well, Jack," she answered, gently, "you 
 must understand the situation. You are your 
 father's son; she is her father's daughter." 
 
 "Good Lord!" he cried, with a quick, angry 
 lift of his hands. "We did not ask them to be 
 our parents." 
 
 But Dorothy shook her head resolutely. 
 
 "Nevertheless, they are," she told him. 
 "And your father took her mother from Mr. 
 Chase. Now, they are fighting in business. 
 And you would take the daughter, too ! ' ' 
 
 Jack passed a hand softly up and down his 
 knee, and stared at the floor. It was evident 
 that the situation thus boldly presented dis- 
 turbed his usual cheery optimism. 
 
 "Say," he said finally, "it does look like a 
 Hendrix trust, doesn't it? Well, nevertheless, 
 I'm for further combination." Yet, he shook 
 his head doubtfully, just the same, and, when 
 he spoke again, it was of another subject. 
 
 180
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Mrs. Chase," said he, "we have never yet 
 talked of the past of Lincoln, three years 
 ago. ' ' 
 
 "There was no use of it, was there?" she 
 asked. 
 
 "I was a wild kid then," he went on, with a 
 reminiscent smile. "You taught me a lot. 
 This has never come up between us, but I think 
 now is the time to speak of it. I was in love 
 with you three years ago desperately in love. 
 But it was a boy's courtship for an older woman 
 not older in years, of course, but in heart, 
 in feeling, in attitude toward life, older in soul. 
 "Why I felt toward you like the kid who brings 
 his red apple to school for teacher." 
 
 "And the kid grows up," she said, half- 
 tenderly. 
 
 "But the teacher is just as attractive," he 
 smilingly interrupted. 
 
 "Only," she added, "the little girl with the 
 pigtails has been growing up, too." She 
 paused, and regarded Jack demurely. 
 
 "And one day," he said, "well, the kid just 
 181
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 wishes that the whole world were just one big 
 red apple." 
 
 "To give to the little girl with the pigtails," 
 she concluded. 
 
 He nodded emphatic assent. 
 
 ' l Yes, ' ' he agreed softly. ' ' Now, why do you 
 fight for her?" 
 
 "Why shouldn't I fight for her? Isn't she 
 my daughter, too?" 
 
 Jack shook his head. 
 
 "You are Willa's step-mother. Even though 
 you were a more wonderful woman than you 
 are, you would yet be her step-mother. You 
 have a part a large part of the love that 
 for ten years she had alone. She feels that. 
 Now," he asked urgently, "if she went, 
 wouldn't her going make it easier for you?" 
 
 "For shame!" Dorothy interrupted, indig- 
 nantly. 
 
 "I do love Willa, Mrs. Chase. Truly and 
 seriously, I love her, and I hope she cares for 
 me." 
 
 "Then, wait." 
 
 182
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Why wait! 11 
 
 "But Willa is very young." 
 
 "Nonsense!" he asserted. It was plain that 
 he had no respect for this suggestion of a 
 barrier. 
 
 ' ' Wait two years. Think of her father. ' ' 
 
 "Think of me," he argued. "He's had her 
 for nineteen years." 
 
 "I'm sorry, but, frankly, I cannot see it that 
 way. . . . I can't do it." 
 
 Dorothy arose. The color crept into her 
 cheeks, and her eyes flashed when next she 
 addressed the young artist. 
 
 "Jack, I've tried to give you every chance 
 to be fair, but you won't take my offering. 
 Do you think your position very honorable 
 very honest even making love to the daugh- 
 ter, and at the same time trying to ruin the 
 father?" 
 
 "Good heavens, Mrs. Chase!" exclaimed 
 young Hendrix, amazed. Then, he laughed. 
 "Whew!" he said. "That was a flash of the 
 old Dorothy Elliott." He threw up his hands 
 
 183
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 in mock terror. " Don't shoot, ma'am; I'll 
 come down." 
 
 But she continued to speak energetically and 
 seriously : 
 
 "You seem to forget the suit filed to-day 
 against Mr. Chase by your company the suit 
 that may ruin him." 
 
 It was very evident to Mrs. Chase then that 
 the astounded lift of Jack Hendrix's eyebrows 
 and his startled attitude were genuine. For 
 a second he seemed unable to speak. 
 
 "By my company?" he faltered, finally. 
 
 "Yes the company of which you are vice- 
 president the suit it has brought against Mr. 
 Chase's patents." 
 
 A light of understanding flashed over the 
 young man's countenance. He smiled du- 
 biously as he felt in an inside pocket of his coat. 
 He produced a little gilt-edged note-book, and 
 began rapidly running over a memorandum 
 aloud. 
 
 "Republic Manufacturing Company, direc- 
 tor; Union Eubber Company, assistant secre- 
 
 184
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 tary ; Northern Electric, director ; Country Ath- 
 letic Club, president. 
 
 "No," he laughed, "I guess it couldn't be the 
 Country Athletic Club. Ah, here it is Con- 
 solidated Steel, second vice-president." Then, 
 after a pause, he added: "I don't look much 
 like the second vice-president of a steel com- 
 pany now, do I?" 
 
 "So," she said, in a nettled manner, "it's 
 merely a joke to you!" 
 
 He threw out his hands. 
 
 "Mrs. Chase, be sensible," he implored. "I 
 know nothing of this. I wouldn't have known 
 I was vice-president, if I didn't by chance hap- 
 pen to have that note-book with me. I know 
 nothing of the affair believe me." He 
 laughed, cynically. "I don't think anybody in 
 father's companies knows anything about them, 
 but himself. His directors are office boys, and 
 his janitor is the biggest incorporator. He 
 sticks me into these companies, just as he'd 
 stick in the cook or the chauffeur, if he happened 
 to remember their names." He drew himself 
 
 186
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 up, and looked the woman full in the eyes. 
 11 There's only one thing for me to do about 
 this," he announced. ''I'm going to see Mr. 
 Chase, and to explain my position." 
 
 She put up a warning hand. 
 
 "Mr. Chase won't discuss it with you," she 
 said, hastily. Then, she looked down and away 
 from him, resuming after a little while in 
 low, soft tones. "I'm sorry," she said, "but 
 I think it would be better if you didn't call 
 here after under the circumstances. I hate 
 to say this I'm sorry but surely surely, 
 Jack Hendrix, we both understand. . . . 
 Good-by." 
 
 187
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 DEFIANCE 
 
 THIS dismissal from the lips of Dorothy, 
 with all it meant of imminent peril to his 
 ever obtaining Willa for his wife, left young 
 Hendrix standing dazed before the mistress of 
 the house. Yet, her words had been suffi- 
 ciently clear, and it seemed to him that the 
 decree was hopelessly final. He had half- 
 turned in the way of making his departure, 
 when Willa 's voice came to him, first in joyous 
 greeting, and then, as she observed the presence 
 of Dorothy, with a note of defiance. 
 
 ''Hello, Jack!" 
 
 "How are you, Willa?" he said, but not very 
 exuberantly. There was a tense pressure in 
 the clasp of his hand as he held hers. 
 
 "I'm glad to see you, Jack," she said, with 
 a certain emphasis. 
 
 188
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Thanks," lie managed to say. He looked 
 from Willa to Dorothy in silence. Then, he 
 smiled uneasily. "Well, I guess I'll be going," 
 he volunteered, at last. 
 
 "Jack!" cried the amazed Willa, with out- 
 raged energy. 
 
 Edith Thomas, who had returned with Willa, 
 supplemented : 
 
 "Going away?" 
 
 "Why, I asked you for tea," remonstrated 
 Willa. 
 
 "Yes but, you see I I didn't know 
 then " he stammered. 
 
 Willa, with suspicions aroused, stared first 
 at Jack, and then at Dorothy. 
 
 "Oh!" she said. "Then, you've learned 
 something since you came something to make 
 you change your mind about staying." 
 
 The situation was decidedly uncomfortable 
 for Jack. He hemmed and he hawed; he cast an 
 appealing look at Dorothy. Finally, he said: 
 
 Well yes." 
 
 "Mr. Hendrix," said Dorothy, calmly, "did 
 189
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 not know it was your father's birthday when 
 he accepted, and, .under all the circumstances, 
 he thinks it better not to stay." She turned 
 fully toward him for confirmation. "That's 
 what you mean, isn't it?" she asked him 
 directly. 
 
 "Er ah yes," he grudgingly assented at 
 last. 
 
 ' ' But I wish you to stay, ' ' cried Willa. 
 
 "Ah, Jack Hendrix!" interjected Edith 
 Thomas, sweetly. "You certainly are a 
 popular boy; there's no getting away from 
 that." 
 
 "Well," said the embarrassed Hendrix, "the 
 only thing I can make out of it is that I am a 
 liar, either way." 
 
 The statement appeared hardly lucid on the 
 face of it, but Willa grasped his meaning, in- 
 tuitively. 
 
 "Oh," she said, "you promised Dorothy to 
 go?" 
 
 Young Mr. Hendrix swelled his chest with an 
 assumption of great indignation. 
 
 190
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 ''Promised? No, indeed. The idea!" 
 
 Willa sneered, incredulously. 
 
 "Of course, if my step-mother wishes it 
 go by all means. All the men do what Saint 
 Dorothy wishes." 
 
 "He promised nothing, Willa," said Dorothy, 
 quietly. 
 
 Willa turned from her with a gesture expres- 
 sing vexation. 
 
 "Oh!" she exclaimed again angrily; and 
 then, with tears standing in her eyes she 
 wheeled impulsively on Jack: 
 
 "I want you to go now," she cried. "And 
 and I asked you particularly to-day, because I 
 wanted to bring you and father together. He's 
 always in a good humor on his birthday, and 
 especially so to-day." 
 
 Hendrix could not refrain his eagerness at 
 this announcement. 
 
 "You want to bring your father and me to- 
 gether!" he said, joyously. 
 
 Dorothy, hearing, watched Jack keenly. 
 She was on the point of going over and inter- 
 
 191
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 rupting the conversation, but thought better of 
 it, and, instead, followed Miss Thomas's lead 
 to the piano at the other end of the room. 
 
 "Of course," assented Willa sweetly. "I 
 am sure this would be the very occasion to bring 
 you and dad together." 
 
 "Well, then," he said earnestly, "I'll stay. 
 Mrs. Chase, if you don't mind," he called, "I 
 think I'll stay. Willa Willa wants me to meet 
 her father." 
 
 "You had better change your mind," Dor- 
 othy said, in kindly fashion. 
 
 "No," he said, with determination, "I think 
 I'll stay." 
 
 And Willa beamed with triumph toward Dor- 
 othy and then with tenderness toward her lover, 
 as, with an open display of fondness, she led 
 him toward the low Oriental lounge. 
 
 "I'm an awful fool, I know," she whispered 
 to him. 
 
 "You're a dear to want me," he said ar- 
 dently. 
 
 "Yes," she impulsively confided; "I'd have 
 192
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 made you stay, if I'd had to break your neck, 
 after you'd promised her to go." 
 
 Jack Hendrix's heart dropped with a thud. 
 The wind was all out of his sails. 
 
 " Humph!" he ejaculated dismally. "You 
 don't give a fellow much of a chance to be an 
 egotist, do you?" 
 
 1 'Why?" asked Willa, with an air of the ut- 
 most innocence ; "Did you suppose really it was 
 just because I wanted you that I insisted on 
 your staying?" 
 
 But there was a merry dance in her eyes, as 
 Jack declared: 
 
 "I hate lying." 
 
 "How you must despise yourself!" she said, 
 sweetly. 
 
 193
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE GIFTS 
 
 IF Willa had secured one triumph in causing 
 Jack Hendrix to remain in her father's 
 house after Dorothy had requested his with- 
 drawal, there was another, less expected, await- 
 ing her. For Dorothy, accepting the situation 
 and deciding to make the best possible of it, 
 came forward now, and said: 
 
 "Well, if we are going to have tea here's 
 Maria." 
 
 "Oh, yes! Maria, will you tell father, 
 please?" 
 
 "And, Willa, won't you make the tea?" asked 
 Dorothy, with a gracious smile, yielding her 
 place as hostess. 
 
 Willa, for once, was thus induced to show 
 pleasure at an action of her step-mother. 
 
 "Certainly," she said beamingly, and she 
 194
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 busied herself immediately with the tea-things. 
 
 Even over so trivial an affair as tea-cups, 
 life's comedy and irony sometimes flash. 
 
 "How many lumps do you take, Edith?" 
 asked Willa. 
 
 "One, please." 
 
 "And Jack takes two, with lemon," smiled 
 Willa. "Oh, you see, Jack, I know." 
 
 "It's queer, Jack," remarked Miss Thomas, 
 with humor in her large eyes ; "but nearly every 
 girl of my acquaintance seems to know just how 
 you take your tea." 
 
 Jack, in the act of passing Edith her cup, was 
 surprised into an indignant : 
 
 "Huh?" And, in his emotion, he nearly 
 dropped the cup. 
 
 "Please, pass this one to Dorothy, Jack," 
 said Willa, sharply. 
 
 As he did so, he looked into the cup. 
 
 "Oh, it's sweetened," he said. "You don't 
 take sugar," he said to Dorothy. He missed 
 the angry, suspicious look that Willa directed 
 at him then. 
 
 195
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Indeed, it's just right, Willa," said Dor- 
 othy, tactfully. 
 
 "I beg pardon," gulped young Hendrix, 
 aware now of his self-betrayal to Willa. 
 
 "You forget, Jack," said Edith Thomas, dul- 
 cetly. "This isn't Lincoln. She's married 
 now, and doesn't have to think of her figure." 
 
 "For a sense of humor, commend me to 
 Edith," observed the artist, with bitter re- 
 proach in his voice. 
 
 "There is no one else with a sense of humor 
 just like Edith's," interposed Dorothy. Then, 
 she got up quickly, straining every faculty not 
 to appear disconcerted at sight of her husband, 
 as he now came smilingly toward her. 
 
 "Well, children!" he called cheerily. But 
 his smile suddenly disappeared, stiffening as it 
 came on his lips, when he beheld Jack. 
 
 "Good-afternoon, Mr. Hendrix," he said, 
 with cold formality. 
 
 "Good-afternoon, Mr. Chase," answered 
 Jack hopefully, putting something more of cor- 
 diality in his own voice. 
 
 197
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Willa, now that her father and lover were 
 face to face, suffered misgivings of her own. 
 These she tried to relieve by saying, albeit some- 
 what breathlessly: 
 
 "Er this is jolly isn't it!" 
 
 "Great!" declared Jack, in obligato. 
 
 "Very jolly!" said John Chase, grimly. 
 
 "Well, this certainly suits my sense of 
 humor," observed Miss Thomas to nobody in 
 particular. 
 
 Dorothy saw that trouble was near to an out- 
 break. She tried to smooth the matter as best 
 she might. 
 
 "Will you have a cup of tea, John?" she said, 
 in tones as close to the casual as she could 
 contrive at the moment. 
 
 "I don't care for tea, thank you," he said, 
 tartly. He turned away, as though it were his 
 intention to leave the room at once. 
 
 But Willa ran over to her father, and caught 
 him by the arm. 
 
 "No no you can't run away, father!" she 
 198
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 cried. "We are going to give you your birth- 
 day presents now." 
 
 John Chase's face, however, remained so set 
 with displeasure that Dorothy ventured: 
 
 "Perhaps, your father is bashful, and would 
 rather have them later, Willa." 
 
 "No!" defied Willa. "You said he was to 
 have his presents at tea, and he shall have them 
 at tea." 
 
 In the face of his daughter's anxiety, Chase 
 allowed his countenance to soften somewhat. 
 
 "Of course, dear, if you wish," he said, 
 shortly. 
 
 Even Edith Thomas was thrown out of com- 
 posure by the embarrassing pause that followed. 
 She arose. 
 
 "I think it's time for me to go," she said 
 clearly, and laughed. 
 
 Dorothy, grasping the opportunity, looked at 
 Jack Hendrix in a manner of command. 
 
 "Are you and Edith going to walk up the 
 Avenue together?" she asked. 
 
 199
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Young Hendrix stood nonpulsed. But, fi- 
 nally, he answered, with an obvious effort to- 
 ward carelessness of manner: 
 
 "Eh? Er yes yes, by all means. I 
 would like a little walk with Miss Edith. ' ' 
 
 But this way out of the dilemma was check- 
 mated by Willa. 
 
 "No, indeed," she said, vigorously; "you two 
 cannot go now. I particularly want you to see 
 my father's presents." 
 
 "Delightful!" said Edith, helplessly. 
 
 "Er of course, certainly," came in sur- 
 render from Jack Hendrix. 
 
 Willa crossed to a recess in the wall, and, be- 
 fore Hendrix or her father could assist her, had 
 brought a large package to the center of the 
 room. 
 
 "You'll never guess what it is," she said, 
 mysteriously. 
 
 In this emergency, John Chase himself now 
 decided on making the best of matters as they 
 stood. Therefore, he took the package from 
 his daughter with as much graciousness as he 
 
 200
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 could muster, and began pulling at the cords. 
 
 "Better open both presents at the same 
 time," he said, as he smiled. "You and Dor- 
 othy overwhelm me. What are they both? 
 They look like pictures." 
 
 "Washington crossing the Delaware," es- 
 sayed Jack, lightly. 
 
 ' ' Or somebody skating over thin ice, ' ' supple- 
 mented Miss Edith Thomas, pointedly. 
 
 Meanwhile, both Dorothy and Willa were 
 busily uncovering their offerings, and soon each 
 revealed to John Chase a portrait. Willa held 
 forth a picture of herself, while Dorothy pre- 
 sented at the same instant a picture of herself. 
 
 As to these portraits, they were not only 
 palpably of high artistic value, but were also 
 plainly the work of the same brush. Chase and 
 Edith were lost in admiration, but Willa was 
 flashing looks of fury, first from Dorothy to 
 Jack, and then to the canvas on which Jack had 
 made her step-mother 's portrait. Dorothy her- 
 self could not conceal her annoyance, which 
 came to her with the discovery that here was 
 
 201
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 the explanation of Willa's visits to Jack's 
 studio. It was clearly shown that he had been 
 making the girl's portrait. So, where she had 
 anticipated making a unique birthday gift to 
 her husband, her idea now stood practically 
 duplicated by Willa's. Jack himself was non- 
 plused, and Edith Thomas signified, with her 
 usual mischievous smile, a perfect comprehen- 
 sion of the unfortunate entanglement. Chase 
 alone was the unconscious one in his attitude 
 toward the predicament. He gave enthusiastic 
 expression to his enthusiasm over the pictures, 
 ignorant, of course, as to their authorship. 
 
 4 ' Splendid both of them ! " he cried. * * And 
 a great idea ! And you thought it up together, 
 didn't you, dears?" 
 
 Dorothy turned away. 
 
 "Urn um no," said Willa, sulkily. 
 
 "John," said Dorothy, "this is the portrait 
 of me you used to admire at Lincoln. You re- 
 member it, don't you?" 
 
 "Oh, to be sure," came the response from her 
 husband, still immeasurably pleased at the gift. 
 
 202
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "I remember, now. At first, it seemed differ- 
 ent." Then, on closer examination, he added: 
 "I thought it was a new one. Some young 
 artist did it, I believe. It is a charming piece 
 of work. I thank you, Dorothy. ' ' 
 
 Then, the happy father turned to Willa 's 
 portrait. 
 
 "And, Willa," he went on; "yours is beauti- 
 ful splendid! I do appreciate this delightful 
 surprise. We must hang them side by side." 
 He took Willa in his arms, and kissed her with 
 much tenderness. "Thank you, dear," he said, 
 warmly. 
 
 Now, if ever, came the thought to Willa, was 
 the propitious time for young Jack Hendrix to 
 get into her father's good graces. So, she 
 spoke as bravely as she might, anxiously 
 enough, and yet with something of the spirit of 
 a challenge. 
 
 "I want you to thank the artist, father." 
 
 "Of course, I'll thank him," said Chase, 
 heartily. ' ' Who is he ! " 
 
 "Here," the girl answered, and, with a half- 
 203
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 triumphant wave of her arm, she indicated 
 Jack. 
 
 "With due modesty, I bow," laughed young 
 Hendrix, suiting the action to the word, and 
 being altogether anxious to pass the matter off 
 lightly. 
 
 Chase looked at the young artist with grow- 
 ing astonishment. As comprehension dawned 
 fully, the rush of emotion left him almost 
 stunned. 
 
 "Mr. Hendrix!" he exclaimed. 
 
 "Of course, I know I don't look as though I 
 could have done it," said Jack, with a sheepish 
 grin; "but I did." 
 
 "You you painted my daughter's picture?" 
 cried Chase, in gusty anger. 
 
 Jack Hendrix straightened up at the speak- 
 er's tone. 
 
 "Yes and I am very glad you like it, Mr. 
 Chase." 
 
 Chase turned from the young man to his 
 daughter. 
 
 "I am sorry, Willa," he said, firmly; "but 
 204
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 we cannot accept such a gift from Mr. Hen- 
 drix. ' ' 
 
 "I am not an artist in this case for the money, 
 Mr. Chase," Jack asserted. 
 
 "I know that, Mr. Hendrix," the father read- 
 ily conceded. "The picture will be returned to 
 you. ' ' 
 
 Willa's voice quivered; her cry came half as 
 a sob. 
 
 "Give back my picture give back !" 
 
 "I'm sorry, dear," declared her father; but 
 he gave no sign of relenting. 
 
 "But Dorothy's?" flared Willa. 
 
 "Why, that is different, dear," said Chase. 
 
 "I don't know about that, father," cried 
 Willa. "They look alike, in style. Hers was 
 painted in Lincoln. There see the initials 
 * J. H. ' in the corner. . . . Oh ! " 
 
 She flashed an accusing look at Dorothy, 
 while her father, after peering closely at the 
 artist's signature, turned startled, questioning 
 eyes on his wife. 
 
 205
 
 CHAPTEE XXI 
 
 "SHE SLAPPED ME!" 
 
 revelation of Jack Hendrix as the 
 -- painter of his wife's portrait as well as of 
 that of his daughter, had nearly provoked an 
 open, violent expression of anger from the 
 vigorous, straight-dealing John Chase; but 
 Edith Thomas cleverly averted an outbreak, by 
 remarking, casually: 
 
 ''Oh, then, that's the picture Jack painted 
 when he was in Lincoln, three years ago." 
 
 ''Painted Jack " stammered Willa, ques- 
 tioningly. 
 
 "My portrait, also, was painted by Mr. Hen- 
 drix, John," said Dorothy, with slow distinct- 
 ness, "in Lincoln, three years ago." 
 
 " Oh ! " said Chase, mollified and comprehend- 
 ing. 
 
 206
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "But you'll keep her picture?" demanded 
 Willa, with angry insistence. 
 
 "This picture will be returned also, as your 
 father wishes, Willa," Dorothy exclaimed, 
 sadly. 
 
 "Dorothy-, why did you?" asked Chase, in 
 tones of low reproach. 
 
 "Mrs. Chase " began Jack Hendrix, in pro- 
 test. 
 
 Again, it was Edith Thomas who acted tact- 
 fully. 
 
 "Now," she laughed, "I know it's time for 
 me to go. ' ' Sympathetically, she turned to the 
 artist. "Won't you come with me, Jack?" 
 
 "Yes," he said promptly, and with an open 
 expression of relief. He bowed stiffly to Chase. 
 "Mrs. Chase Willa." 
 
 "Good-afternoon," said Chase and Dorothy 
 in concert. 
 
 Willa had flounced to the lounge, where she 
 cuddled, her hands to her face, her shoulders 
 shaken with a burst of sobbing. 
 
 "John!" appealed Dorothy, indicating Willa. 
 208
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 But the father was in no mood just then for 
 the accustomed petting and humoring of his 
 daughter. 
 
 "Not now," he said, with compressed lips. 
 Then, he wheeled, and left the room without an- 
 other word. 
 
 Dorothy, left alone with Willa, stood doubt- 
 fully for a few seconds; but her better nature 
 triumphed, as it always did if the opportunity 
 were given it. She walked softly over to the 
 girl, and laid a kindly hand on the shaking 
 shoulder. 
 
 "Willa," she whispered; "Willa dear!" 
 
 The girl arose swiftly from the lounge; her 
 face was as red with anger as with weeping. 
 
 "Don't you 'dear' me," she cried, furiously. 
 
 "Willa!" protested Dorothy, greatly hurt 
 by her step-daughter's harsh manner of re- 
 buff. 
 
 "I hate you I hate you!" the girl hissed at 
 her young step-mother. 
 
 "You don't understand, dear," said Dorothy, 
 softly. 
 
 209
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "I do understand. First, you came in be- 
 tween me and father, and now you come in be- 
 tween me and and Jack. You didn't want me 
 to have anything to do with Jack Hendrix, did 
 youf I can see why now!" 
 
 "Stop!" commanded Dorothy, her patience 
 dissolving under the tirade. 
 
 "I won't stop!" retorted Willa, openly de- 
 fiant. "No wonder you didn't want me to go to 
 Jack's studio ! No wonder you tried to prevent 
 his painting my picture!" She drew her slen- 
 der figure to its full height. "For shame," she 
 cried, ' * to treat my father so ! " 
 
 Dorothy stared for an instant, at a loss what 
 to say or do, then her anger broke forth. 
 
 "Willa, I'll box your ears!" she said. 
 
 "How dare you be in love with Jack Hen- 
 drix!" went on the girl, hysterically. "You 
 my father's wife!" 
 
 "Willa!" 
 
 "You you aren't fit " 
 
 What else Willa would have said was stopped 
 by her own screams, for Dorothy, in a flare of 
 
 210
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 utter exasperation, caught the girl roughly by 
 the shoulders, and proceeded with vim and 
 vigor to box her ears roundly. 
 
 Then, they drew apart, staring at each other, 
 blank amazement and horror on the faces of 
 both. 
 
 Dorothy was the first to recover. 
 
 ' ' Oh, what have I done ! ' ' she said, in shocked 
 tones. * * Willa, forgive me ! ' ' 
 
 But Willa, still bereft of her senses, simply 
 stood staring, and this attitude on her part 
 caused Dorothy to be overcome with shame and 
 anger against herself. 
 
 "Oh, how degrading!" she murmured; and, 
 covering her face with her hands, she unsteadily 
 left the room. 
 
 Willa was motionless, a rigid figure of fright 
 and dismay. 
 
 Suddenly, she rushed to the telephone. 
 
 4 ' Seven-sixty-nine, Plaza ! ' ' she called quaver- 
 ingly. "Plaza, seven-sixty-nine speak to Mrs. 
 Hendrix. ' ' 
 
 And, when her mother's voice answered her, 
 211
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Willa allowed all control to go out of her 
 own. 
 
 "Mother!" she shrieked. "She slapped me! 
 Dorothy she slapped me! Come mother!" 
 
 212
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 STEATEGY 
 
 JOHN CHASE had heard nothing of the loud 
 talking, the cries that ended in screams. 
 This was due to the heavy curtains and the long 
 hallway and length of broad stairs that inter- 
 vened between the distressing scene and his own 
 apartment. Some hours afterward, however, 
 when he descended to the library, he immedi- 
 ately became aware of the violent occurrence. 
 He had heard the sounds of weeping in the 
 upper hallway. He had investigated, and he 
 had found out. He was still in a disturbed 
 frame of mind as he entered the general room. 
 He was agitated to the extent of leaving his 
 eye-glasses on the library table as he stared 
 around. Finally, he rang the bell for Maria. 
 When she came in, he asked vaguely: 
 
 213
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Has Mrs. Chase had dinner?" 
 
 "She said she didn't care for anything. She 
 lias a headache," the servant answered. 
 
 "Ah," said John Chase, comprehensively. 
 "Er and Miss Willa?" 
 
 "She said she didn't care for any dinner 
 either, sir she has a headache. ' ' 
 
 Chase rubbed a dubitative hand across his 
 chin. 
 
 "Where is Mrs. Chase now?" he asked. 
 
 "In her room, sir." 
 
 "Ah and Miss Willa?" 
 
 "In her own room, sir." 
 
 He took a few steps in one direction and then 
 a few steps in another. 
 
 ' l Oh, very well, ' ' he said, finally. 
 
 Maria herself was sadly in need of direction. 
 She fussed about, touching an article of furni- 
 ture here and another there, and, after awhile, 
 inquired : 
 
 "Shall I serve dinner for you now, sir?" 
 
 "I I don't care for any dinner, Maria 
 thank you." 
 
 214
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 The old servant was not without her genuine 
 solicitude at this state of affairs in the house- 
 hold, and, also, not without her sense of privi- 
 lege. 
 
 "I I hope you're not feeling badly, sir. 
 There's nothing the matter?" 
 
 "Oh, nothing nothing at all," the master 
 was quick to reply; "just a slight headache." 
 
 He was unconscious of Maria's sharp glance 
 of inspection. 
 
 "Yes, sir," she assented, with an irritating 
 readiness ; " a headache. ' ' 
 
 "That will do," said Chase, sharply. 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 Maria, realizing that the tether's end of pre- 
 sumption had been reached, departed. Chase, 
 finding that she was gone, was at no pains to 
 disguise from himself his own uneasiness. He 
 paced to and fro. Next, he started for the door 
 that led into the hallway. Then, he started 
 for the door of the conservatory wing. And, 
 finally, he blindly started for the door on the 
 butler's pantry side. But he wound up at the 
 
 215
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 mantel, one elbow on the shelf, his head resting 
 on his hand, his mind offering no ready solu- 
 tion to the difficulty as, indeed, may not the 
 mind of a man who has for adjustment a quar- 
 rel between women. 
 
 After a little interval, Maria reappeared, to 
 announce Miss Edith Thomas again. 
 
 Chase turned from the mantel-shelf with alac- 
 rity. 
 
 "Miss Edith!" he exclaimed. "I'm really 
 so glad to see you!" He shook her hand with 
 enthusiastic demonstration. 
 
 She laughed at this evident perplexity 
 laughed quickly, without positively expressing 
 her understanding of his dilemma, as it was, 
 of course, no part of hers to do so. 
 
 "I just ran in for a moment to see Dor- 
 othy," said she, ingenuously. 
 
 Chase drew back. He had no ready explan- 
 ation for the state of affairs he knew existed. 
 
 "I'm I'm afraid," he said, "er the fact 
 is, Dorothy is well she isn't feeling very 
 well." 
 
 217
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 To his surprise, Miss Thomas answered 
 promptly : 
 
 "I know. She has a headache. She tele- 
 phoned me." 
 
 "Oh!" said Chase, with an immensity of re- 
 lief matching also the immensity of conjecture 
 that arose in his mind at this statement. 
 
 1 'Yes, she's in her room," said Miss Thomas, 
 by way of corroboration of the telephone mes- 
 sage. "And Willa?" 
 
 Again, John Chase was at a loss. After 
 some seconds of consideration, in which he half- 
 realized the humor of his reply, he said : 
 
 "She has a headache, too." 
 
 "Yes, I know," concerted Miss Thomas read- 
 ily. "She, too, telephoned me." 
 
 Chase stopped his pacing of the room. He 
 looked at Miss Thomas with a still wondering 
 glance. 
 
 "Oh!" he said. "And, then, what did you 
 do?" 
 
 Miss Thomas nodded quickly at him. Her 
 smile was very fine. 
 
 218
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "I didn't," she replied, "let my right hand 
 know what my left hand was doing. ' ' 
 
 "Oh!" said Chase again, blankly. "Then, 
 you know what happened?" He turned to 
 scrutinize her. 
 
 Miss Thomas laughed. 
 
 "Yes; both of them told me." She preened 
 herself with a comical little expression of im- 
 portance. "Both of them," said she, "want 
 my advice. ' ' 
 
 "Both of them?" demanded Chase. 
 
 The visitor nodded, affirmatively. 
 
 He threw out his hands. 
 
 "Well, then, make it three won't you? 
 Miss Edith, won't you? ... I need ad- 
 vice, worst of all." He made the admission in 
 his big-boy fashion, which women found so 
 alluring to their sympathy. 
 
 Miss Edith Thomas was not proof against 
 such an appeal. 
 
 "It's quite simple," she said, warmly. 
 "You must bring them together." But, hav- 
 ing spoken thus, she realized that she had 
 
 219
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 merely talked sympathetically, not in the least 
 practically. 
 
 Chase looked at her as though she had sug- 
 gested his going to the moon, and dragging it in 
 actual touch with the sun. 
 
 "But I haven't even seen either," he said, 
 helplessly. "They told me what happened 
 through the door. Each is locked in her room. ' ' 
 
 "But you must bring them together," Miss 
 Thomas insisted. "Oh, it's simple quite 
 simple ! ' ' 
 
 "Oh, quite simple!" groaned the man. 
 
 "Of course!" went on Miss Thomas. "Just 
 talk sense to them. Nothing in the world gets 
 two women together so quickly as talking sense. 
 Why, don't you understand?" she asked, 
 brightly. "The very novelty of it enthralls 
 them." 
 
 Chase stared at the speaker in miserable be- 
 wilderment. 
 
 "Give them a novelty, eh!" he asked, with- 
 out enthusiasm. 
 
 "Of course. Just bring them to this room," 
 220
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 she said quickly. "And put one down here" 
 she pointed to a big chair ' ' and the other down 
 there" she pointed to the divan. "And, then, 
 you just get in between them, and and and 
 just give it to 'em!" 
 
 "Well yes," he ventured, inappreciatively. 
 But, in a moment, he added, despairingly. * ' Er 
 will they stay?" 
 
 "Make them stay," commanded Miss 
 Thomas, positively. 
 
 "Oh er yes, make them stay," he agreed, 
 fatuously. 
 
 The visitor nodded, encouragingly. 
 
 "Now, I'll run away to the drawing-room, and 
 have Maria tell each of them in turn that I'm 
 waiting for her in the library. Then, when 
 they come down, you lay down the law." 
 
 Chase was still wretchedly helpless in his 
 consideration of her plan. It did not seem 
 feasible at all to his man's mind. Neverthe- 
 less, he assented, and spoke with an assumption 
 of great sternness : 
 
 "Yes; I'll lay down the law." 
 221
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Eemember," Miss Thomas adjured Mm 
 from the doorway, "be firm!" 
 
 He put out an anxiously grasping hand to 
 stay her. 
 
 "But, Miss Edith," he asked, in frank des- 
 peration, "what must I say?" 
 
 She shook her finger at him. 
 
 "Oh, you know what to say," she answered. 
 "I've told you, already. Eemember!" 
 
 And she left John Chase staring now at the 
 big arm-chair, where one was to sit, and then 
 at the divan, where the other was to sit, the 
 while he laid down the law to them.
 
 CHAPTER XXin 
 
 NO EASY TASK 
 
 FOE a time, the husband and father stood 
 pondering the advice that had been given 
 to him by Edith Thomas ; and, while he did so, 
 he fell to rehearsing the scene, as he would enact 
 it when he had brought Dorothy and "Willa into 
 the room. 
 
 "My dears, " he would say, "I cannot stand 
 this any longer. This situation is utterly pre- 
 posterous. You are both in the wrong, and I 
 demand that you make concessions. I will not 
 further put up " 
 
 What more he was planning to tell them was 
 cut short by the flying entrance of one of the 
 participants in the unpleasantness, Willa her- 
 self. 
 
 "Father!" she cried distressedly, at sight of 
 him. 
 
 223
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 The frown and the firm set that his lips had 
 held at rehearsal did not remain. His manner 
 melted very quickly. He was conciliatory, even 
 apologetic. 
 
 "Yes, dear," he said quickly. As he ad- 
 vanced to meet her, she ran toward him, and his 
 arms were readily outstretched as she threw 
 herself into them. "Dear!" he repeated, by 
 way of stronger affectionate greeting. 
 
 Willa, her head on his shoulder, sniffled and 
 sobbed in a manner distinctly girlish. 
 
 "She slapped me she slapped, father!" 
 
 "I know, Willa," he began tenderly, "but " 
 
 She straightened, and stared at him. 
 
 "But but!" she mocked at him. "You 
 don't mean to say that you approve!" 
 
 Who what? Me?" he asked. "No oh, 
 no, dear well, er, that is " 
 
 Willa pushed him away from her, and 
 plunged angrily over to a seat on the divan. 
 
 "I might have known you'd side with her!" 
 she exclaimed. 
 
 John Chase paced the room in troubled fash- 
 224
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 ion. Out in the world of men, he knew how to 
 fight his way and to manage his affairs in a 
 firm, fine fashion. But, notoriously, such men 
 are chary and half-fearful in their dealings 
 with such tender things as women things 
 about to burst into tears any minute ; into those 
 tears that make a man like Chase invariably 
 feel as if he had acted brutally, whether or not 
 he has done so. So, now, he merely looked at 
 Willa dubiously, and said gently : 
 
 "She's she's your mother, you know." 
 
 Willa leaped from the lounge, and crossed to 
 a near-by chair, into which she flung herself 
 violently. 
 
 "She's not my mother!" she cried explos- 
 ively. 
 
 "Yes, yes, dear, to be sure! But, then, she's 
 very, very sorry, I know. I know she is, 
 Willa." 
 
 "Huh!" said his young daughter, incredu- 
 lously. 
 
 "Indeed, Dorothy is," Chase assured her. 
 
 Willa leaned forward, looking at her father 
 225
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 speculatively. She was far from feeling com- 
 fortable in her mind over her own actions in 
 the quarrel. She had said unpardonable things 
 to Dorothy. 
 
 "Well, if she's sorry," she said in milder 
 tones, "why doesn't she say so, then!" 
 
 "Well I er " Chase braced himself. 
 "She will," he declared, finally. 
 
 But Willa had drawn back again. 
 
 "Oh, you haven't seen her, you mean!" 
 
 "But she will she will tell you how sorry 
 she is," he repeated. 
 
 His daughter did not seem impressed. In- 
 stead, she declared, with new heat: 
 
 "My own mother wouldn't have slapped me 
 wouldn't have dared to do such a thing." 
 
 Chase smiled, grimly. 
 
 "Well, you see," he observed, "your own 
 mother hardly knows you well enough." 
 
 Willa half-turned her back on her father. 
 When she looked around again, it was to say, 
 accusingly : 
 
 "I thought you said that Edith was here?" 
 226
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Here?" Chase assumed great surprise. 
 "Oh, no, not here. But, now, you just wait 
 here, dear, and I'll bring Dorothy.'* 
 
 Willa had arisen, but he took the young girl 
 by the arms, and forced her back in a chair. 
 He shook his finger at her, half-playfully, half 
 in earnest. 
 
 "Now," he said, "you wait wait till I fetch 
 Dorothy." 
 
 No sooner had he left the room than Willa 
 began to take up in her own mind again the 
 quarrel she had created with her young step- 
 mother; and, the more she thought of it, the 
 more she realized that she had acted outrage- 
 ously, and that, if Dorothy had overstepped all 
 bounds in administering a few sound slaps, the 
 cause had undeniably been monstrous. The 
 more she thought of the affair in this aspect 
 of self-reproach, the more the blushes chased 
 over her pretty cheeks, and the less and less at 
 ease she became at the prospect of facing Dor- 
 othy. Finally, she decided that this was just 
 what she couldn't possibly do. She arose with 
 
 227
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 sudden decision of fear, her eyes furtive, and 
 ran out of the room. 
 
 Thus it was that, when Chase returned with 
 Dorothy, who was herself thoroughly shame- 
 faced, it was to find the library empty. 
 
 "Well, what do you think of that?" he asked, 
 in confusion. "She's gone. I told her to 
 wait. ' ' 
 
 "I don't blame her for going," said Dorothy, 
 miserably. "I'd well, I'd like to go myself." 
 
 Chase took his young wife's hand, and patted 
 it. 
 
 "Dorothy," he said almost plaintively, 
 "don't you see that we cannot go on in this 
 way?" 
 
 "Yes, John, I know," she said, in full con- 
 trition. "And I'm' so ashamed of myself! 
 The idea of my losing my temper that way!" 
 She gave an exclamation of dismay. Yet, sud- 
 denly, her manner changed to one of anger. 
 "Oh," she cried, "but she was provoking!" 
 
 "Yes yes," Chase hastened to agree. "I 
 don't see how you but then " 
 
 228
 
 THE SECOND "WIFE 
 
 "You mean then that I But no, of course, 
 you condemn me. She is your daughter, and 
 I'm only her step-mother." 
 
 Chase passed an arm around his wife 's waist. 
 
 "Won't you won't you, now, tell me?" he 
 pleaded. "Won't you help me? Won't you, 
 Dorothy, my dear little wife I This situation 
 well, I just can't stand this. It's simply 
 awful!" 
 
 * ' I know, ' ' assented the young wife. ' * Bring 
 her" 
 
 "If you'll just wait just here a second," 
 he hurriedly said; "just wait." He moved 
 swiftly out of the library, in search of Willa. 
 
 Dorothy sat for several seconds fully nerved 
 to the task of confronting Willa, and of asking 
 the girl's forgiveness for having slapped her. 
 But, when some time had passed, a resolution 
 that was hard to hold at any time began to 
 weaken, and she asked irritably and aloud, in a 
 gust of self-defense: 
 
 "Why doesn't she come?" 
 
 Irritation was succeeded by a thorough dis- 
 229
 
 couragement with her task. And, then, as she 
 heard without the footfall of Chase, and along 
 with it the lighter step of Willa, and realized 
 that they were moving toward the room wherein 
 she sat, her courage deserted her completely. 
 
 "Oh, I can't I just can't!" she cried finally. 
 In her turn, she ran out of the room. 
 
 A second later, Chase returned, dragging 
 iWilla by the hand, much as he might have 
 done years ago in her naughty pinafore days. 
 He made a grimace of despair, when he saw that 
 now Dorothy was missing. 
 
 "Why," cried "Willa, with mingled relief and 
 anger, "she isn't here any such thing!" 
 
 "Well, she was here," said her father, 
 stoutly. "Now, dear, you wait," he began. 
 But, at the very apparent look of rebellious- 
 ness in Willa 's eyes, he quickly changed his 
 mind. "No," he said, "come." He drew 
 Willa to the doorway, looked out, and called: 
 ' ' Dorothy Dorothy, dear ! ' ' 
 
 "Papa, just let me go!" stormed Willa. 
 She jerked her hand away, and started for 
 
 230
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 the doorway opposite. But the father caught 
 her, and this time held her decisively as he 
 dragged her back to the other doorway, where 
 again he called loudly for his wife. 
 
 When, at last, and very reluctantly, Dorothy 
 appeared, it was to have her hand caught by 
 Chase ; and, now, with a firm grip on both wife 
 and daughter, he brought them into the room. 
 Once he had them well inside, he released his 
 hold, and indicated two library chairs, which 
 he drew close together, requesting Willa and 
 Dorothy to seat themselves. They made as if 
 to do so, but, at the same time, drew the chairs 
 farther apart. 
 
 "Now," said John Chase, trying to carry the 
 matter off as a bit of humor, rather than as an 
 affair that might indeed threaten the future 
 happiness of them all, "let us come to an 
 understanding." He was greatly dismayed, 
 however, as he paused hopefully, to find that, 
 in the little interim of his saying these few 
 words, the women had turned in such manner 
 that their backs were toward each other. 
 
 232
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 W, my dears !" he urged them. This 
 had the effect at any rate of getting 
 both women seated. Having accomplished this 
 much, and believing that the stern countenance 
 he had assumed was proving effective, he was 
 unpleasantly brought to a realization of the 
 difficulty in his project of reconciliation by ob- 
 serving that the two were no longer paying any 
 attention to him; that they were seated each 
 with a cold shoulder toward the other; and 
 that each wore a set, unrelenting expression 
 of countenance. 
 
 He became thoroughly exasperated then, and 
 the tone of voice in which he called, "Willa!" 
 fairly frightened that tempestuous young 
 person. It appeared that, after all, her father 
 himself had a temper. 
 
 233
 
 "Well, I'm waiting," she said, controver- 
 sially. "Why did she slap me?" 
 
 "Dorothy why did you slap her?" Chase 
 asked, with an inflection of pleading in the 
 words by which he asked Dorothy to humor the 
 girl's demand. 
 
 "Willa knows very well why I slapped her," 
 replied Dorothy, coldly. 
 
 "You know, Willa, why Dorothy slapped 
 you?" said Chase, helpless again. 
 
 Willa turned fiercely on Dorothy. 
 
 "Yes, indeed, and you " 
 
 "We won't discuss that now," said Dorothy, 
 with dignity. 
 
 "No, no," interjected the husband and father 
 anxiously; "don't let's discuss that now." 
 
 "Oh, I understand," retorted Willa. Then, 
 she began to sniff a very effective method of 
 bringing her father to her side, as she well 
 knew by long practise. "My own mother," 
 she moaned, weeping, "wouldn't have slapped 
 me, and I don't see why a step-mother can." 
 
 Dorothy, meanwhile, had been trying to 
 234
 
 nerve herself to make the sacrifice of her own 
 feelings, which, she had decided, was demanded 
 by her duty to John Chase and her duty in a 
 way to Willa. 
 
 ''I'm very very sorry, Willa, that I did 
 it. I'm heartily ashamed of myself. I don't 
 know what I can do more than to tell you that I 
 am sorry." 
 
 This was so much more in expiation than 
 Willa had expected more indeed by far than 
 she felt she had any right to expect that her 
 attitude of recalcitrancy absolutely vanished. 
 She put her hands up to her eyes again, and 
 began, brokenly: 
 
 "Well " 
 
 Dorothy had arisen, and she was now stand- 
 ing in front of the girl. 
 
 "Won't you be friends again, Willa?" she 
 asked, gently. 
 
 To this, there came no reply whatever save 
 an inarticulate murmur from Willa. A twist 
 of wistful humor had its expression on 
 Dorothy's lips. "Come, Willa," she went on, 
 
 235
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "I'll do anything I can. Do you want to slap 
 me back?" 
 
 She unhesitatingly held out her cheek. 
 
 "Yes, Willa," asked Chase, with his eyes 
 twinkling sympathetically toward those of his 
 wife; "do you want to slap her back?" 
 
 "No, indeed," came spontaneously from the 
 girl. 
 
 On this scene, there rested the eyes of Miss 
 Edith Thomas, come to the doorway to observe 
 the success of the strategy she had proposed to 
 Chase. Evidently, she deemed the desired re- 
 sult accomplished, or, at least, the affair to have 
 progressed to such a stage that its full accom- 
 plishment could be assisted by herself. 
 
 "Hello!" she cried. "How are you, girls? 
 I just thought I'd drop in for a few minutes, 
 and show you my new gown. What do you 
 think of it?" She took a few turns in front of 
 them, mincingly. 
 
 "Lovely, Edith," said Dorothy. 
 
 "I don't like it," declared Willa, imperti- 
 nently. 
 
 236
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 In Edith was an ally who, Chase felt, was 
 worth having in an almost intolerable situation. 
 
 "Can't you stay for dinner?" he asked. 
 "Do, Miss Edith. I'm starved. Why is 
 dinner so late, Dorothy! I have a business ap- 
 pointment immediately after dinner." 
 
 Dorothy smiled at him, a bit tremulously. 
 
 "I'm afraid I haven't the slightest idea why 
 dinner is late," she confessed, ruefully. "But 
 I'll see, John." 
 
 "Well, if you girls will excuse me," he said, 
 "I have to look over some papers. Willa, 
 dear, will you have Maria let me know at once 
 when my man comes?" 
 
 "Who is it, father!" 
 
 "Haven't an idea, Willa some man from the 
 National Power Company." 
 
 "Well, if you'll excuse me also," said 
 Dorothy, "I'll go and see about dinner." 
 
 When Chase and Ms wife had left the room, 
 Edith turned to Willa, and, with her customary 
 whimsical smile playing on her face, asked: 
 
 "Well!" 
 
 237
 
 "I made her eat humble pie a great, big, 
 double slice!" declared Willa, triumphantly 
 and still in her schoolgirlish manner. 
 
 "But," said Miss Thomas gently, "you are 
 going to forgive her?" 
 
 "Oh I I may," said the young woman, 
 judicially. "Yes, I think I shall, Edith." 
 
 "Good!" declared that tactful young woman, 
 with enthusiasm. 
 
 "But," pursued Willa, "she must keep her 
 place." 
 
 "Oh, I'm sure she'll do that," Edith agreed, 
 smiling. 
 
 Willa strolled over to one of the chairs, and 
 slowly settled down into it. 
 
 "That's the worst of a man marrying be- 
 neath him," she said. "Mother says it always 
 results in vulgar outbreaks." 
 
 Miss Edith Thomas, in the act of settling 
 her skirts, as she sank into a near-by chair, 
 looked up quickly, but Willa did not happen to 
 catch her friend's eye. 
 
 "Yes," agreed Miss Thomas tolerantly, 
 238
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 ' * everybody at the time agreed that your father 
 had done that. But, then, you ought not to 
 blame him. Your father was young, and they 
 went to school together." 
 
 Now, at last, Willa looked up wonderingly at 
 Edith. 
 
 "Went to school together! Young! Father 
 was at least forty-five." 
 
 "When he married your mother? Bidic- 
 ulous ! " came the calm retort. 
 
 "Married my mother?" gasped Willa. "I 
 mean, when he married Dorothy." 
 
 Edith Thomas drew herself quite straight 
 in her chair, and demanded, with a tone colder 
 than was usual with her. 
 
 "Dorothy? Dorothy beneath him?" 
 
 "Of course, not now," said Willa with con- 
 descension; "not now that she's married into 
 the family. Mother says," she went on, in an 
 explanatory fashion; "well, in spite of all 
 disagreements, mother recognizes that father 
 has inherited social position. Mother says 
 that" 
 
 239
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Willa was quite unaware of the full signs 
 of storm in Edith's voice as the older woman 
 made venomous comment: 
 
 "Oh, she does, does she! Well, that's nice 
 of your divorced mother." 
 
 "Mother says " went on Willa, with the 
 same loftiness of tone. 
 
 But Edith Thomas broke in brusquely : 
 
 "Mother says, I suppose, that Dorothy is be- 
 neath her and her husband her Hendrix hus- 
 band, I mean. Now, let me tell you something, 
 Willa Chase. I went to college with Dorothy 
 Elliott, and I visited her in her home. I know 
 all about her and her people. Dorothy El- 
 liott's father is one of the big men of his State; 
 and his reputation rests largely on keeping 
 men like Mr. Hendrix from doing business in 
 that State. He was never kicked out of school 
 for buying examination papers; and he never 
 had to stay out of a certain State to keep from 
 being arrested; and her mother never got a di- 
 vorce, and paid for it by giving up her child! 
 Dorothy beneath anybody!" concluded Miss
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Thomas, with flashing eyes of a very genuine 
 indignation. 
 
 The while, Willa's feeling had run the gamut 
 from lofty disdain, surprise and anger, to in- 
 ternal shock of dismay at the taunt of being 
 sold by her mother to her father. 
 
 "Oh, then you you " 
 
 She stopped, really not knowing what to say. 
 
 Edith went on, with vigor unabated in her 
 championship of her school friend : 
 
 "Dorothy beneath a Hendrix!" she openly 
 scoffed. "Why, if it wasn't for Dorothy, you 
 couldn't have Jack Hendrix dangling after you. 
 He was crazy about her in Lincoln three 
 years ago. She could have had him a dozen 
 times, but she wouldn't have anything to do 
 with him, when her people found out who and 
 what the Hendrix tribe were. Now, what do 
 you think of that f ' ' And, then, with deep dis- 
 gust, she added again: "Dorothy beneath the 
 Hendrix! Well, that's the silliest thing I ever 
 heard the most preposterous the " 
 
 But Willa had thought of only one thing. 
 241
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 . . 
 
 'Dorothy, is is in love with Jack?" she 
 asked, blankly. 
 
 "Could anybody be in love with Jack, and 
 get over it?" asked Edith, contemptuously. 
 
 Willa jumped to her feet. 
 
 "I thought I was right," she cried feverishly. 
 Her manner was that of one thoroughly horri- 
 fied. "I might have known mother was right 
 about her. No wonder she got so mad when I 
 accused her. Oh, it's shameful of Jack Hen- 
 drix and her using me as their dupe. My 
 father shall know," she finished, furiously. 
 
 "Willa Willa, are you crazy?" angrily re- 
 monstrated her visitor. 
 
 "No, I'm just beginning to have sense," de- 
 clared Miss Chase, violently. 
 
 "Gee whizz!" Edith cried anxiously. "I 
 didn't mean to start all this." 
 
 "Edith, I honor you for what you have 
 done," exclaimed Willa, with tragical in- 
 tensity in her voice. "When one dear to my 
 father is conspiring with his bitterest enemy, 
 it is his daughter's right to know." 
 
 242
 
 "But " Miss Edith had started earnestly 
 to say. 
 
 The appearance of Maria interrupted the 
 protest. 
 
 "Mr. Jack Hendrix to see you, Miss Willa," 
 the servant announced. 
 
 "To see me the dupe!" stammered Willa, 
 angrily. She looked swiftly at Maria. * * Show 
 Mr. Hendrix directly into the library here, and 
 then tell Mrs. Chase, also." Then, when 
 Maria was gone, she glanced knowingly at 
 Edith. "I'll force them into the open that's 
 what I'll do. I always knew there was some- 
 thing wrong about that Jack Hendrix." 
 
 Miss Thomas shook her head. She saw that 
 effort to turn the girl from this vindictive mood 
 must be useless for the present. 
 
 "Well, good-by; but think over carefully 
 what I've told you," she urged regretfully. 
 
 Willa kissed her visitor most affectionately. 
 
 "Good-by, dear," she fairly cooed. "I 
 know who is my friend," she added fervently. 
 
 243
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 THE ACCUSATION 
 
 AS Willa stood awaiting the arrival of 
 Jack Hendrix and Dorothy with anger in 
 her eyes and a determination to give them both 
 the most uncomfortable hour in their lives, her 
 father unexpectedly arrived on the scene. 
 Willa looked inquiringly at him. 
 
 "Where the deuce are my glasses, Willa? 
 Have you seen anything of them? Every time 
 I get excited, I lose my glasses. ' ' 
 
 "You had better keep your glasses on," said 
 his daughter, with deep significance, as she ob- 
 served him pick them up from the table. 
 
 "What?" he asked, puzzled, as well he might 
 be by this cryptic remark. 
 
 "You have your glasses use them," she 
 said solemnly, after the manner of a young 
 prophetess. 
 
 244
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "What's wrong, dear?" he asked, more 
 mystified than ever by the girl's somber man- 
 ner of speaking. He perceived now that his 
 daughter had drawn very erect, posing in stilted 
 self-consciousness, evidently attitudinizing as 
 a stern moralist. 
 
 "Father," she said, "it is my duty to speak 
 to you about Dorothy. ' ' 
 
 "My child," he said, with tender reproof in 
 his voice, "do not use that tone in talking of 
 Dorothy. She is your your " 
 
 "My step-mother," said the girl, bitterly. 
 "Don't worry. I am not likely to forget 
 it." 
 
 "Oh, don't be so unreasonable, Willa!" said 
 John Chase, impatiently. "Dorothy is my 
 wife; you are my daughter. I love you both. 
 My one grief is that you don't love Dorothy. 
 I'm sure that Dorothy loves you." 
 
 "She's got a nice way of showing it," 
 sneered Willa ; ' ' slapping my face. ' ' 
 
 "Now now, Willa, can't you adapt your- 
 self a little bit to Dorothy?" 
 
 245
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 4 'You mean, turn the other cheek?" burst 
 forth the girl, indignantly. 
 
 Her father's only reply was an exclamation 
 of exasperation. 
 
 ''No, thank you," added "Willa; " one's 
 enough. ' ' 
 
 "Willa," said her father, firmly, "you must 
 do as I tell you that is all. It is not hard to 
 love Dorothy." 
 
 "No, for men it isn't," the girl retorted, 
 viciously. 
 
 "Willa," the father cried, "you forget your- 
 self! Eemember, you are speaking of your 
 father's wife. Dorothy is entitled at least to 
 your respect ; partly to your obedience. ' ' 
 
 Willa laughed hysterically, then exclaimed in 
 mockery : 
 
 "Respect! Obedience!" 
 
 "Willa!" 
 
 "Oh, she can always justify herself to men," 
 stormed the girl. "The great Dorothy! 
 Saint Dorothy! I suppose, now, she has told 
 you how it was I allowed Jack Hendrix to paint 
 
 246
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 my picture. She did not tell you of herself and 
 Jack." 
 
 "Willa, stop!" 
 
 "I'll be their dupe no longer," the girl said 
 to her father, her voice rising in the unashamed 
 rage of the primitive jealous woman. 
 
 ' ' Dupe ! Are you absolutely mad 1 ' ' 
 
 ' ' Have I ever lied to you, father ? No ; that 's 
 one thing I can not do. I'm my father's 
 daughter there!" 
 
 The man had moved close to her while she 
 spoke, and now they were looking each other 
 full in the eyes. Neither observed the entrance 
 of Dorothy into the room, just as "Willa, after 
 drawing a full breath, began to speak anew : 
 
 "I tell you, father," she said, "Jack Hen- 
 drix is in love with her; and I believe she 
 cares for him. That's why he comes here; 
 that's why they are downstairs together 
 now. ' ' 
 
 "Willa!" cried Dorothy, aghast in horrified 
 wrath. 
 
 "Willa, stop!" commanded John Chase. 
 247
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "What has upset you in this way? You must 
 not speak so to me!" 
 
 But Willa was too thoroughly aroused for 
 the battle, too bitterly resentful of the humilia- 
 tion which, she believed, had been put upon her- 
 self, to be cowed in the least by the severity of 
 her father's tone. 
 
 "You were engaged to Jack Hendrix in the 
 West ! ' ' she sneered at Dorothy. 
 
 "No," Chase exclaimed, indignantly. 
 
 "You don't dare deny it!" Willa cried to 
 her father's wife. 
 
 "No no stop this questioning of Doro- 
 thy!" the father bade the passionate girl. 
 
 "Everything I said to you this afternoon," 
 went on Willa, with writhing lips as she glared 
 at her step-mother, "is true, and more and 
 more!" 
 
 "Willa stop stop, I say!" thundered her 
 father. 
 
 "I won't stop!" the girl retorted. "I've 
 stood all I can stand. This isn't home this 
 is anything but home. You and I were happy, 
 
 248
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 father, until she came. But, since then, I 
 haven't had one happy day. I tell you, I can't 
 stand it any longer. You must choose, father. 
 Dorothy goes, or I go." 
 
 "Willa," said Chase, "you shall go im- 
 mediately to your room ! Do you understand 
 me? Immediately, to your room." 
 
 Under this command, Willa gave visible 
 signs of breaking. 
 
 "I've been your daughter for nineteen years," 
 she sobbed. "She's been your wife for three 
 months. I'll go to my room, and stay there 
 till you tell me which you choose your 
 daughter or your wife your wife, ' ' she added, 
 with a sudden new lighting in her eyes of 
 anger and vindictiveness, "who is in love with 
 another man!" 
 
 "Willa !" the distracted father fairly shouted, 
 stepping toward her violently. 
 
 Before his fierce aspect, the girl flinched at 
 last, whirled, and fled from the room. 
 
 Then, at last, Chase turned slowly to face 
 his wife. 
 
 249
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 THE VICTIMS 
 
 TT7"ITH his mind on fire because of his 
 * * daughter's accusations against his wife 
 accusations the more tantalizing and shock- 
 ing in that the girl had made only veiled as- 
 sertions as to the probable relations of Dorothy 
 and Jack Hendrix John Chase now stood 
 looking at Dorothy, hardly trusting himself to 
 speak. He knew that, if in the least there 
 should come from her lips a confirmation, a 
 confession that she and Jack Hendrix loved 
 each other, his own life would be made wretched 
 to the end of his days. He knew that, from the 
 instant when he should come to know such a 
 thing positively, he would be an old man, his 
 iron-gray hair would whiten, his shoulders 
 would become bowed, his ambition, his energy, 
 
 251
 
 his hopes, would be shattered for all time. He 
 had often been almost incredulous over the fact 
 of his success in winning Dorothy's love. He 
 had a man's lack of vanity about his ability to 
 hold the admiration and love of a young and 
 beautiful woman. He had not disguised the 
 disparity of their years to himself. He had 
 often thought of it as an amazing thing that 
 she in her youth and freshness should so un- 
 equivocally have given him her love, and have 
 given, moreover, her life to his keeping. It had 
 come to him as a beautiful solace for the disillu- 
 sionment he had suffered in the matter of his 
 first wife and the consequent loss of that ambi- 
 tious woman. His face was a mask of tragic 
 suffering, therefore, when, after Willa had fled, 
 he turned and asked his wife, in a voice so tense 
 that it was little more than a whisper : 
 
 "Dorothy is it true is any of it true what 
 Willa has said?" 
 
 "What true, John?" demanded Dorothy, 
 quietly, unalarmed. 
 
 ' ' You heard her. Explain ! ' ' 
 252
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 This time, he almost shouted, in a sudden 
 burst of jealous grief that was beyond control. 
 
 Dorothy's head was proudly lifted, but her 
 eyes were full of pain. 
 
 "I'll explain nothing," she said to him. 
 "No, I won't explain." 
 
 "Dorothy," he gasped, stepping back from 
 her. "Then, it's true!" A tone of profound 
 sadness sounded in his voice. 
 
 "John," she returned indignantly, "don't be 
 an idiot. ' ' 
 
 "Idiot?" he cried, angrily. 
 
 Dorothy nodded her head, signifying that it 
 was quite hopeless to make him understand. 
 
 "And yet," she said, "even you should be 
 able to see that that foolish little girl of yours 
 is merely jealous. She's in love with Jack 
 Hendrix; and she's jealous because she has 
 found out that once Jack painted my picture. 
 Why, Jack" 
 
 "Oh, you call him Jack, do you?" Chase in- 
 terrupted with a savage inflection. 
 
 Completely out of patience with what she 
 253
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 could only regard as his unreasonableness, Dor- 
 othy retorted: 
 
 "I called him 'Jack, dear,' when I was en- 
 gaged to him. ' ' 
 
 At the shocked expression that came to 
 Chase's countenance, she added: 
 
 "Sometimes, 'Jack, dearest'!" 
 
 Made wildly jealous by this revelation, Chase 
 walked up to his wife, with blazing eyes. 
 
 "Dorothy, how far has this affair gone 
 between you and young Hendrix?" he de- 
 manded. 
 
 "How dare you ask that question?" she re- 
 torted, standing aloof from him. ' ' Eemember, 
 I'm your wife. But you when you talk like 
 that become not my husband, but a middle- 
 aged, rather unprepossessing, impertinent 
 man." 
 
 "Dorothy, do you know what you are say- 
 ing?" he asked breathlessly, in his great as- 
 tonishment. 
 
 "Yes and I will say more, if you keep on," 
 she answered, shortly. 
 
 254
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 ""Why didn't you tell me of this in Lincoln?" 
 he asked, with angry insistence. 
 
 "Why didn't you tell me you had been di- 
 vorced?" she rejoined. Thereby, she left him 
 helplessly floundering for a reply. He half- 
 started to leave the room, but the burning of 
 the wound in his breast would not permit him 
 to withdraw without further word from her. 
 He could not go unless he had absolute con- 
 firmation that the best dream of life was not 
 to have a rude, a hideous awakening. 
 
 Dorothy, however, had no intention of allow- 
 ing him to depart in such manner, or in such a 
 frame of mind. 
 
 ' * Oh, you must know all about me before mar- 
 riage, but I must ask nothing about you," she 
 continued, hotly. "There's the man of it. I 
 was twenty-five when you married me. Do 
 you realize that? Good gracious, do you sup- 
 pose I had never imagined myself in love ; had 
 never been proposed to? I assure you, I was 
 not so unattractive. What did you see in me ? ' ' 
 she asked him. But, when he would have re- 
 
 255
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 plied, she swept her hand for silence. "My 
 past!" she suddenly exclaimed, and laughed. 
 "Poor, red-headed Potts! And ugly Johnson 
 and fascinating young Hendrix! There you 
 are. Ah, yes, I did imagine myself in love with 
 Jack Hendrix for a little while; but I didn't 
 marry him. I outgrew him rapidly. Then, I 
 married you. I did go to Jack's studio with 
 Edith, and he finished up the picture that he 
 started in Lincoln. I did it because I wanted 
 to give the picture to you. Don't you see? 
 It's you you you!" 
 
 Chase's breath began to come freely once 
 more, by force of the relief he was experi- 
 encing. Nevertheless, he said: 
 
 "Dorothy but you and Willa." 
 
 "Don't blame Willa, John," she said. "And 
 don't blame me. We are the victims of a con- 
 dition, that's all your divorce. Of course, 
 Willa can't forget her mother. No girl worth 
 anything could. It's too deep in her. To 
 Willa, I am the intruder; I always shall be. 
 Willa and I are the sufferers ; Tve are the in- 
 
 256
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 nocent victims of your divorce. In every 
 divorce, John," she ended with conviction, ''it's 
 the innocent who suffer." She paused, gazing 
 steadily at him. Then, a winsome smile 
 played on her lips. "But, at that, John," she 
 said, "I'm glad you got the divorce." 
 
 He grasped her hands. 
 
 "Dorothy!" he groaned, repentantly. 
 "What's to be done?" 
 
 "Let Willa marry Jack Hendrix," the wife 
 said, flatly. 
 
 Again, Chase started back from her, exclaim- 
 ing: 
 
 "Dorothy!" 
 
 "You surely can't object to his past," she 
 said, with mock dignity and then a smile. "Ee- 
 member, it is your present." 
 
 "Dorothy no no! I cannot let Willa 
 marry Jack Hendrix." 
 
 "Then," she replied, "what Willa said, I 
 say. It's your time to choose your wife or 
 your daughter. I'm going to my room, John. 
 Let me know when you decide. ' ' 
 
 257
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 He would have detained her, but she swept 
 on to the door, unyielding. There, however, 
 she halted with an expression of astonishment, 
 for on the threshold stood Jack Hendrix him- 
 self. 
 
 258
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 SPATS 
 
 HENDEIX bowed with embarrassment, first 
 to Dorothy, and then to Chase. 
 
 "I thought you'd forgotten me, Mrs. Chase; 
 so I took the liberty of coming up from the 
 drawing-room to say, 'Good-by.' My train 
 leaves in half an hour." 
 
 "Why, I'm sorry," she said, hastily. She 
 turned to her husband. ' * Mr. Hendrix is going 
 on a long journey, John, and has called to say, 
 ^good-by.' : She summoned Maria, who was 
 passing. "Tell Miss Willa that Mr. Hendrix 
 has called to say, 'Good-by,' " she directed the 
 servant. 
 
 "If Mr. Hendrix is going on a long journey," 
 said Chase tartly, "it would not do to detain 
 him. Good-night, sir." 
 
 260
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Good-night," said the young artist, geni- 
 ally. 
 
 Breathlessly, Willa rushed into the room. 
 
 "You you are not going away for good!" 
 she asked, with a catch in her voice which she 
 could not prevent. 
 
 The young man nodded dolefully. 
 
 "A long trip I I decided quite suddenly." 
 
 "Good-night, Mr. Hendrix," said Dorothy, 
 extending her hand. "I hope you will have a 
 successful journey. ... I am tired if you 
 will excuse me." 
 
 "Good-night, Mrs. Chase," he said, "I hope 
 I shall have the pleasure of seeing you on my 
 return. ' ' 
 
 "I fear we shall not be at home, Mr. Hendrix, 
 on your return," she answered, coldly. 
 
 He affected not to have understood her. 
 
 "Oh, I'll find you no matter where you are," 
 he said, and laughed hollowly. 
 
 "Good-by," she repeated, and left the room. 
 
 Instantly, when she had done so, the watchful 
 father said to Willa : 
 
 261
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "You are tired, Willa. I'll see Mr. Hendrix 
 out." 
 
 "I wish, to speak to Mr. Hendrix about 
 about his trip." Chase frowned. "Please," 
 pleaded Willa. That girlish prayer, of course, 
 decided him to make the concession. After all, 
 young Hendrix was going away. He need not 
 be unnecessarily harsh in the matter. So, he 
 bowed, and said: 
 
 "Very well." 
 
 "Good-night, sir," said Jack, smilingly. 
 
 Chase bowed stiffly, and left the room. 
 
 The moment he had gone, Willa 's manner of 
 breathless interest and anxiety toward Jack 
 disappeared. Instead, her attitude became now 
 one of dignity and coldness. 
 
 "Mr. Hendrix!" she said, severely. 
 
 His brows lifted in good-natured inquiry. 
 
 "So, I am to be spanked," he ventured. 
 Then, he sighed. "It was serious, after all 
 our little quarrel, eh? Too bad! I thought 
 it might only be a bad dinner." 
 
 "No doubt, it all seems a joke to you," she 
 262
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 said, bitterly. "And it is a joke a cruel, 
 heartless joke!" 
 
 "Believe me," lie returned playfully, "I 
 never thought of that. ... A bad dinner 
 a joke! Why, it's a tragedy." 
 
 She made a gesture of disgust. 
 
 "Oh," she said, "you are always thinking of 
 the material things. Faith and honor and plain 
 honesty are the jokes with you." 
 
 At this, Jack became serious in turn. 
 
 "You have no right to say that, Miss Chase," 
 he declared. 
 
 The girl made a picture of supreme scorn, 
 drawn to her full height, as she faced him. 
 
 "I'd like to know who has a better right!" 
 she asked. 
 
 He stood back, surveying her. 
 
 "Wouldn't I love to paint you like that!" he 
 cried, admiringly. "Couldn't you hold the 
 pose a minute 1 ?" He fumbled in his pocket, 
 produced a pencil and an envelope, and began 
 sketching rapidly, his eyes full of admiration, 
 his lips wearing a tantalizing smile. 
 
 263
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Now, then," lie continued, "chin just a little 
 higher, please." 
 
 It was this phase of boyish gaiety about his 
 character that "Willa, in common with other 
 women, had found immensely attractive. But 
 she saw nothing charming in it now. 
 
 "I'm not trifling," she said, witheringly. 
 
 "No," he said with a semblance of irritation, 
 "you are spoiling a good picture." 
 
 "Mr. Hendrix," insisted Willa, now almost 
 fiercely, "I asked you a question." 
 
 1 ' Oh, well, if you are going to be so persistent 
 there are several I want to ask, myself." 
 
 "Oh!" cried Willa, shocked. "And, first 
 among them, I suppose, is my father's wife." 
 
 "Mrs. Chase?" he cried. 
 
 "Oh," she said to him sternly, "I knew you 
 would defend her." 
 
 "No, I'll not defend her," said young Hen- 
 drix. "For me to presume that Mrs. Chase 
 could need defense would be an insult." 
 
 "You were in love with her," said Willa with 
 an unrestrained show of feeling. 
 
 265
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Young Hendrix pleaded promptly and cheer- 
 fully to the accusation. 
 
 "Yes," said he. 
 
 "I knew it," cried Willa, dramatically. 
 
 "I always intended to tell you," he remarked, 
 with composure. 
 
 "Oh, if you had any shame " she began. 
 
 "Shame?" he questioned, abruptly. "Why, 
 to have been in love with a woman like Mrs. 
 Chase could not help benefiting any man." 
 
 "You speak so of my father's wife to me?" 
 stormed Willa. 
 
 "I'd speak so to your father," answered 
 young Hendrix, smilingly. "It was three years 
 ago. I'd had a row with dad, and gone West. 
 Met her I was a fool a wild kid. I lied to 
 her. She couldn't stand for me. I wasn't 
 man enough to realize how fine she was " 
 
 "And, since then," asked Willa, with fresh 
 scorn, "you've realized?" 
 
 "I have," said Jack with great self-satisfac- 
 tion, "grown a good deal since then." 
 
 This statement to the jealous girl before him 
 266
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 was tantamount to a confession of everything 
 that she had feared and suspected; and her 
 jealousy, with the despair that then came upon 
 her, moved her to a full outburst of rage. 
 
 "Yes," she cried at him, " you've grown more 
 clever since then, but not more honest. You 
 lied to Dorothy when she was in the West; 
 you've lied to me to my father, and to me, 
 ever since she came here. I said faith and 
 honor and honesty were jokes with you, and 
 you've confessed that, when I said so, I told the 
 truth." She gave way to a gust of angry 
 laughter. "What a joke duping an innocent 
 girl and fooling an honest man that you might 
 make love to his wife! What a joke!" She 
 stood now trembling, her hands clenched, her 
 eyes blazing. 
 
 Hendrix, who had gone red and white with 
 anger under her outburst at first, had after- 
 ward stood more calmly, studying her. Now, 
 at last, he smiled whimsically, and then came 
 toward her. He possessed himself of both her 
 hands, and spoke tenderly, even playfully, as 
 
 267
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 one who would sooth a pretty child. Yet, 
 despite this, he spoke with astounding serious- 
 ness, for what he said to Willa was: 
 
 "We won't have to have a church wedding, 
 will we ? I hate them ! ' ' 
 
 268
 
 CHAPTER XXVIH 
 
 MRS. HENDRIX RETURNS 
 
 A LTHOUGH Jack did not quite expect im- 
 -*^- mediate surrender on Willa's part, yet in 
 the sophistication that had come to him through 
 many flirtations, he was not even nonplused 
 when she angrily jerked her hands away, and 
 cried furiously: 
 
 "How dare you!" 
 
 He laughed gaily, carelessly. 
 
 "A man in love," he said, "will dare a good 
 deal." 
 
 "I'll not be your dupe!" she cried. Her 
 voice narrowly escaped betraying the sob in her 
 throat. 
 
 "I don't want you to be my dupe," he said. 
 And, then, most tenderly, he added: "I want 
 you, Willa, to be my wife." 
 
 "You say that now," she answered. "And, 
 269
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 fifteen minutes ago, you were upstairs, talking 
 to Dorothy." 
 
 He laughed, outright. 
 
 ''And what she told me was that I could 
 never come here to see either of you again." 
 
 "She dared to interfere with my affairs!" 
 cried Willa. 
 
 "Your father " 
 
 "Oh!" she exclaimed, impatiently. 
 
 "It was then," said Jack, "that I decided on 
 my trip. And, now, I'll take you with me." 
 
 "But, if I " she said, drawing back. 
 
 He followed her, again caught her hands in 
 masterful fashion, and drew her to him. 
 
 "You'll come," he said, positively. 
 
 And the wilful Willa, the spoiled and sturdy 
 spitfire, yet the fair and fond Willa, shyly mur- 
 mured : 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 Scarcely had they arrived at this delightful 
 understanding, scarcely had Jack begun to draw 
 in glamourous language an anticipatory pic- 
 ture of their honeymoon trip into strange and 
 
 270
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 charming lands, a repetition of his rovings in 
 the art-student days, when Maria came, with the 
 announcement of the arrival of Mrs. Hendrix. 
 
 Willa remembered, with keen regret then, of 
 that flurried rush to the telephone; of the call 
 for help which she had sounded, when she cried: 
 "She slapped me, mother! Dorothy slapped 
 me!" 
 
 Now, the girl could only stare blankly, until 
 Maria reminded her. 
 
 "What shall I say, Miss Willa?" 
 
 "Tell her," said Jack Hendrix cheerfully, 
 "to go home." 
 
 "Maria!" cried Willa. "No no, you can't 
 say that ! I'm afraid I'll have to see her, Jack. 
 I telephoned to her to come. Show her up here, 
 Maria." 
 
 "Well, I'm going," announced Hendrix hur- 
 riedly, arising and making for the door. 
 
 "Jack, father is out that way," warned 
 Willa; and, the next instant, escape was shut 
 off, for Mrs. Hendrix entered, with a swish of 
 skirts, and a cry of: 
 
 271
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 ' ' Willa Willa, my child ! ' ' 
 
 "Mother!" came the answer, and the two 
 kissed. 
 
 Mrs. Hendrix was bustling with zeal for the 
 protection of her unfortunate and harried off- 
 spring. 
 
 ' ' Has anything occurred since you telephoned 
 me?" she asked, hurriedly. 
 
 ' ' I have put her in her place, ' ' replied Willa. 
 
 "Just like that!" laughed Jack. 
 
 "Well, it's your father's fault," Mrs. Hen- 
 drix declared. "Why," she said indignantly, 
 addressing Jack, "the idea of his bringing a 
 woman like that to rule over my child." 
 
 "What's the matter with her?" inquired 
 young Hendrix, suavely. 
 
 ' ' Jack ! ' ' remonstrated Willa. 
 
 "An uncouth, uneducated creature from the 
 prairies," the mother declared, superciliously. 
 
 "Now, now, don't," said Jack, gently. "Re- 
 member, please, that Mrs. Chase and Willa have 
 to live in the same house together." 
 
 "Willa is going to leave this house," 
 272
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 announced Mrs. Hendrix, with majestic de- 
 fiance. 
 
 "Oh, mother, do you mean that really, 
 mother ! ' ' 
 
 But Maria again arrived at the door just * 
 then. 
 
 "Mr. Hendrix," she announced, impassively. 
 The servant had given over being surprised. 
 
 Mrs. Hendrix was not the least astounded of 
 those who heard the name of her husband from 
 the lips of Maria. Tom Hendrix in John 
 Chase's house! This was as an exclamation 
 that rang in her wondering mind like the sound 
 of a thunderous bell. 
 
 273
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 SCHEMES AHEAD 
 
 TV/FES. HENDRIX had no sooner made her 
 -LT-L p roin ise that the daughter was going to 
 leave the house of the father, had no sooner re- 
 ceived her daughter in her arms to seal her 
 expression of this determination with a kiss, 
 than she and Willa and young Jack Hendrix 
 were all alike brought to wide-eyed, rigid atten- 
 tion by Maria's calm announcement, which was 
 instantly followed by a voice resounding in the 
 hallway outside the library door. It was the 
 voice of Tom Hendrix. He was addressing 
 the maid, in his loud-voiced, peremptory man- 
 ner. 
 
 "Just say to John Chase that his old friend, 
 Tom Hendrix, is here. And hurry up about 
 it." 
 
 Mrs. Hendrix gasped to Jack: 
 
 "Your father!" 
 
 274
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Did he come with you?" demanded Jack. 
 "Gracious, no!" came the half -indignant re- 
 
 piy. 
 
 "I say, tell him," the bluff tones of Hendrix 
 were heard commanding outside, "I'll wait in 
 here." At these words, he appeared in the li- 
 brary doorway, where he halted to stare in sur- 
 prise at the women and at Jack. 
 
 ' ' Quite a family party ! ' ' said the undismayed 
 son, smiling broadly. 
 
 1 1 You here ? ' ' growled Hendrix to his wife. 
 And, then, to his son, he added, morosely: 
 1 1 What are you doing here 1 ' ' 
 
 Willa involuntarily started to turn away, and 
 Jack's eyes swiftly followed her movement. 
 The pantomine was not lost on Hendrix. He 
 grunted significantly. 
 
 Jack could not repress a smile. But his face 
 now assumed an altogether doleful expression, 
 as he walked slowly up to his father, and, tak- 
 ing the magnate's hand, shook it mournfully. 
 
 "Welcome, dad," he said. "I know every- 
 body will be glad to see you. ' ' 
 
 275
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Willa felt the necessity of doing a hostess's 
 duty. She was much flustered, however, as she 
 came forward, and shook hands with Hendrix, 
 senior. 
 
 "Yes, Mr. Hendrix," she assented, "we're so 
 glad to see you!" 
 
 "H'm I don't doubt it," he said, but he 
 said it very doubtfully. "Please, tell your 
 father that I am here. ' ' 
 
 "And tell Mrs. Chase," put in Willa 's 
 mother. 
 
 "Yes," said Willa, "I'll tell him and her." 
 
 When Willa was gone, Jack walked up to his 
 father smilingly, and said: 
 
 "I suppose, we all come by invitation!" 
 
 "I have an appointment with John Chase 
 on business for the Consolidated," the father 
 answered crisply. 
 
 Young Jack took his father's arm, affection- 
 ately. 
 
 "Say, dad," he pleaded, "if that's what you 
 came for play it on the level. Won't you 
 er for a change ? ' ' 
 
 276
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Hendrix drew himself away, sharply. 
 
 "Are you running my business, or am I?" 
 he demanded. 
 
 "I could do it," essayed Jack. 
 
 Tom Hendrix looked at his son out of nar- 
 rowed eyes. 
 
 "Lots of fellows thought that," he retorted. 
 "Some of them are dead some are working 
 for me at ten dollars per week. ' ' 
 
 ' ' But I could remember on the level, dad. ' ' 
 
 Young Hendrix grinned good-naturedly at his 
 parent, and then, bethinking himself of being 
 able to meet Willa in the hallway when she 
 should have delivered the message to her father, 
 he sauntered out of the room. 
 
 The father regarded his son's departure in 
 some amazement. 
 
 "Fine boy, that!" he finally observed, sar- 
 castically. 
 
 Mrs. Hendrix made no comment. She had 
 seated herself in an old-fashioned, straight- 
 backed rocker, where she sat evidently ill at 
 ease. 
 
 278
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Do you remember," she said with a sniff, 
 "John Chase's mother used to sit in this chair? 
 I always hated it ! ' ' 
 
 "I suppose you just dropped in to abuse John 
 Chase's furniture?" laughed her husband. 
 
 Mrs. Hendrix arose. She approached her 
 husband, placing her hand on his arm. 
 
 "I came to see Willa," she explained. She 
 thought a second, her handsome head bowed, 
 and then looked up at Hendrix. "She isn't 
 happy here "Willa isn't happy here! You 
 must get her for me." 
 
 "You mean, buy her?" the financier asked, in 
 most matter-of-fact tones. 
 
 ' ' But, really, ' ' said the woman, * ' I want her. ' ' 
 
 Hendrix threw out his hands. 
 
 "Then, take her," he said pleasantly, "and 
 I'll fight the matter out through the courts. 
 That'll take two years. She'll be of age by that 
 time, and there you are, my dear." 
 
 Mrs. Hendrix, however, shook her head, de- 
 cisively. 
 
 "Another scandal," she commented, "would 
 279
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 ruin her socially. For that matter, it would 
 ruin us all." 
 
 Hendrix shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 "Don't see what difference one scandal more 
 or less makes," he said. "There will be just as 
 much money." 
 
 "That's all you think of," said his handsome 
 wife, coldly. 
 
 "You haven't stopped thinking of the same 
 thing, have you?" demanded he, in genuine 
 astonishment. 
 
 She made no reply to this, but sought another 
 chair. There, after a moment's thought, her 
 elbow on the arm, her chin resting in her hand, 
 she said with determination : 
 
 "Tom Hendrix, I'm not going to leave my 
 child under that step-mother's influence any 
 longer. She's making Willa's life miserable. 
 Why, she boxed her ears to-night." 
 
 The man laughed outright at this intimate 
 revelation. 
 
 "She did!" he said. "Good! Remarkable 
 young woman! The more I hear of her, the 
 
 280
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 better I like her." He glanced at his wife re- 
 flectively for some little time. ''Chase hasn't 
 any business judgment," he added, "but no- 
 body can deny he has good taste in women. ' ' 
 
 "Well, if you won't help," began Mrs. Hen- 
 drix irritably, "perhaps Jack may " 
 
 Hendrix was aroused. 
 
 "See here," he called to his wife, "you are 
 not going to try to fix up any scheme to get that 
 girl through Jack. Are you ? ' ' 
 
 "If I were?" she asked quickly, in return. 
 
 "I won't have it," Hendrix declared, roughly. 
 
 "Willa is my daughter," the woman said, 
 stoutly. 
 
 "Jack is my son," the husband replied, as 
 sharply; "and I'm not going to let him be 
 thrown away." 
 
 The wife arose, and stared at him from head 
 to feet. 
 
 "Thrown away thrown away!" she cried, 
 indignantly. "Well you've quite taken my 
 breath away. She would not consider Jack for 
 an instant." 
 
 281
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 " She'd better not," said Hendrix, grimly. 
 
 "Oh, indeed!" exclaimed his wife, taking up 
 the cudgels in earnest. "You consider that 
 would be a sacrifice?" 
 
 The man turned on her, impatiently. 
 
 "Exactly!" he retorted. "Spend all the 
 money you want on your whims, my dear get 
 the girl, marry her to some great grandson of 
 some Dutch peddler, who had just enough sense 
 to cheat Indians. I'll start her right," he 
 added, with a magnificently generous wave of 
 his hand. "She'll enjoy that. But let Jack 
 alone. He's American he's my boy." 
 
 "I might have known," the woman said, bit- 
 terly. ' * I see now what you think of my daugh- 
 ter." 
 
 He strode over to her, and patted her shoul- 
 der in kindly fashion. 
 
 "Very few daughters come up to their 
 mothers, my dear," he observed. 
 
 "Most sons surpass their fathers," she said, 
 acridly. 
 
 "Then, it wouldn't be a fair match, would 
 282
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 it?" he chuckled. " Thank you, my dear, for 
 agreeing with me." 
 
 She drew herself up, angrily. 
 
 ' ' I would have you know, Mr. Hendrix, ' ' she 
 said, "that, though you seem to consider your 
 son better than my daughter my daughter will 
 have a position in society." 
 
 "Exactly," he assented. "Your daughter 
 and Chase's will have whatever position I buy 
 for her just that. ' ' 
 
 "I am going to get my daughter, with your 
 help or without," she said, in a full tide of 
 anger; "in any way I can." 
 
 Hendrix looked at his wife earnestly. He 
 was not in quest of offending her; he had no 
 desire to be disagreeable toward her. She was 
 not a woman who might be twirled around one's 
 fingers. If she planned anything, she might be 
 counted on to go through it determinedly. It 
 was a quality about her that Hendrix liked. 
 So, he said slowly: 
 
 "Well, if you're set on it, suppose we com- 
 promise. You let Jack alone stop that fool- 
 
 283
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 ishness right here and I'll settle the other my 
 own way. Chase has to sell his invention to 
 me. Do you understand that? He has to sell 
 it!" 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 "Well, I'll give him a little better price, and 
 make him throw the girl in. How does that 
 suit you?" 
 
 1 ' You will f ' ' she asked, eagerly. 
 
 "Yes. But, remember no interference!" 
 He had been going to speak further, but he 
 paused on the entrance of John Chase and Dor- 
 othy. 
 
 284
 
 CHAPTEE XXX 
 
 JOHN CHASE'S ANSWEB 
 
 JOHN CHASE'S manner, as he stood facing 
 Ms former wife and his life-long enemy, 
 was one of forced courtesy, the sort of polite- 
 ness that a gentleman in his own house must 
 show to a degree even to most unwelcome 
 guests. Dorothy, too, bowed with quiet dignity. 
 Meanwhile, Mrs. Hendrix, to do her justice, was 
 plainly ill at ease. But no condition could 
 easily excite Hendrix to embarrassment. On 
 the contrary, now he bustled forward, and in- 
 sisted on taking heartily the hand that Chase 
 reluctantly put out to him. He shook it vigor- 
 ously. 
 
 "Hello, John Chase! How are you?" he 
 asked, boisterously. "It's been altogether too 
 long a time since we met. I'm glad to see 
 you." He turned with the greatest effrontery 
 
 285
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 toward his wife. "My dear, yon remember 
 John Chase?" 
 
 "Naturally," said the wondering, hurt 
 woman. She bowed. 
 
 "Mr. Chase," she acknowledged. 
 
 "Mrs. Hendrix," said her former husband, 
 with a stiff bow. 
 
 "Mr. Hendrix," said Dorothy, with a slight 
 bow. 
 
 At that, the magnate came forward with a 
 pump-handle shake for Dorothy's hand. 
 
 "I am always delighted," he said, "to meet 
 the wife of my boyhood friend. ' ' 
 
 Both John Chase and his former wife winced 
 at this. 
 
 "His second wife, Mr. Hendrix," corrected 
 Dorothy. 
 
 " To be sure, to be sure, ' ' said Hendrix, some- 
 what disturbed for the moment from his colossal 
 aplomb. 
 
 "I mention it for the sake of distinction 
 merely," Dorothy suggested, with a smile. 
 
 "To be sure to be sure, for the sake of dis- 
 286
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 tinction ! Oh, by the way, Mrs. Chase do you 
 have you met Mrs. Hendrix!" 
 
 The women bowed again. 
 
 "I have had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. 
 Chase already,'* said Mrs. Hendrix. "And, 
 then, I've heard a great deal of her from my 
 daughter," she continued, tartly. 
 
 "Yes," retorted Dorothy, without delay. 
 "We should know each other quite well. My 
 husband has spoken of you. ' ' 
 
 Hendrix, genially unconscious of the bitter 
 duel between the women, spread his hands 
 broadly. 
 
 "That's what I say," he exclaimed, heartily. 
 "We all know each other so well I may say, so 
 very well ! ' ' 
 
 "We do know each other well," remarked 
 Chase, with emphasis. 
 
 "Exactly," pursued Hendrix, without change 
 of manner. "It's only a shame that we can't 
 know each other better. We should be close 
 friends. We can be of mutual aid. Our fam- 
 ilies should be intimate. Think, man fellows 
 
 287
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 who went to school together, as we did. Why, 
 we ought almost to be one big family." 
 
 Willa and Jack sauntered into the room in 
 time to hear this last speech by Hendrix, and 
 the young girl broke in naively. 
 
 "Aren't we almost?" 
 
 Jack stifled a laugh behind his hand. The 
 others all looked shocked. 
 
 " Willa!" exclaimed her mother. 
 
 "My child!" admonished Chase. 
 
 "But you both know it's true," Willa insisted. 
 Yet, she subsided in a pout that won admiring 
 glances from Jack at least. 
 
 "Mrs. Chase," said Hendrix to Dorothy, 
 working up his opportunity as he saw it, "you 
 and these other young people do not realize 
 what an occasion this is. Why, it's like old 
 times again. Why, your husband and I used 
 to sit together in the old country school." 
 
 "Indeed!" remarked Dorothy, but without 
 any least show of interest. 
 
 "Yes yes, indeed!" Hendrix smiled, then 
 laughed. "Mrs. Hendrix was a fat little girl 
 
 288
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 then, and she used to sit across the aisle, bare- 
 legged, with pigtails down her back." 
 
 This vision of her now elegant mother as a 
 little, half-savage schoolgirl was most distress- 
 ing to Willa. 
 
 * ' My mother bare-legged ! ' ' she gasped. 
 
 " Pigtails!" cried Jack, with mock horror in 
 his tones. 
 
 Mrs. Hendrix herself looked out of counte- 
 nance, and Dorothy did not spare her. 
 
 "That was a very long time ago, wasn't it?" 
 she asked sweetly of the millionaire. 
 
 "Well, I " began Mrs. Hendrix, indig- 
 nantly. 
 
 "Why yes, it was a long time ago," the 
 magnate agreed, cheerfully. "You remember 
 that don't you, John Chase?" 
 
 "Yes," said Chase, coldly. 
 
 "Well, so do I," grinned Hendrix. 
 
 "I think," said Jack whimsically, "that we 
 young persons should thank you two for per- 
 mitting us the pleasure the unexpected pleas- 
 ure of witnessing this delightful reunion." 
 
 289
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 II Don't mention it," broke in his father. 
 ' ' Do you remember, John, the day you thrashed 
 me under that big maple back of the school?" 
 
 I 1 1 remember that well, ' ' said Chase, forcibly 
 and promptly. 
 
 "So do I," declared Hendrix, with a sudden 
 intensity that betrayed the viciousness behind 
 his mask of pleasantry. 
 
 "That was the time of stealing examination 
 papers, wasn't it?" Willa challenged, with blunt 
 brutality. 
 
 "Willa!" remonstrated her mother. 
 
 "Well, it's true, mother," said the girl. 
 "You know it is." 
 
 "I think your daughter takes after you," 
 said Hendrix drily, trying to conceal the 
 sting of the question that the girl had asked 
 him. 
 
 "Father," interposed Jack, "I wouldn't for 
 the world interrupt your very interesting rem- 
 iniscences, but I think you and Mr. Chase un- 
 derstand each other, so, if you're going to 
 suggest business, I would suggest " 
 
 290
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Good suggestion, Jack," said Hendrix, in a 
 hurry. He turned suddenly to Chase. ' * Could 
 you give a few minutes to the Consolidated 
 Steel Company, John?" 
 
 "Consolidated Steel?" exclaimed Chase. 
 
 "Yes I'm Consolidated Steel," said the 
 magnate, blandly. 
 
 "This is hardly the time or place to discuss 
 business," said Chase, still coldly. 
 
 "Any place and all the time are good for 
 business, John," said his old enemy. 
 
 Dorothy took the matter in hand. 
 
 "Mrs. Hendrix and I can wait in the draw- 
 ing-room below, John, ' ' she said. 
 
 The other woman made a sign of assent, and 
 Chase found himself constrained to accept the 
 situation. Willa, her mother, Dorothy and 
 Jack withdrew. The two men faced each 
 other. 
 
 "John Chase," said Hendrix promptly, "I 
 can use your steel process. You need my 
 money. Business is business. Let's get to- 
 gether. ' ' 
 
 291
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Are you forgetting," demanded Chase, "the 
 injunction suit brought against me to by the 
 National Power your Company ?" 
 
 "I'm going to prove my friendship by allow- 
 ing you to compromise," said Hendrix, easily. 
 
 "Compromise?" sneered Chase. "I'm not 
 limited to you. I can sell elsewhere." 
 
 Hendrix bent his brows. 
 
 "You cannot sell anywhere," he declared, 
 sharply. "Your process infringes our pat- 
 ents. ' ' 
 
 "That's a lie, and you know it," said Chase, 
 bluntly. 
 
 "The Supreme Court of the United States 
 will decide that, if necessary," said Hendrix, 
 with directness. Then, after a pause, he added : 
 "That will take a long time, John." 
 
 Chase saw the trap. He sprang up in an 
 agony of rage at the contemplation of the ruin 
 thus thrust imminently upon him. 
 
 "I " he began, wrathfully. But he broke 
 off before the triumph in his enemy's eyes. 
 
 Hendrix even smiled. 
 293
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "It is a different kind of a maple tree this 
 time, John Chase," he said, pointedly. 
 
 Chase stood fighting hard for self-control. 
 
 "There is money in your process, John," 
 Hendrix continued smoothly, "if the right man 
 handles it." 
 
 "Then, why doesn't your company buy?" 
 
 "They have a good process, and, if they can 
 strangle yours with the law, what is the use 
 of buying?" 
 
 1 ' Such injustice ! ' ' 
 
 "Not injustice," grinned Hendrix; "busi- 
 ness." 
 
 "If I had money" 
 
 "Ah, yes, if you had money, you'd beat them 
 you could force it. ' ' 
 
 "Yes, by God! I'd beat them!" 
 
 "Suppose I furnish the money?" 
 
 "You?" asked the amazed Chase. "What? 
 Did I hear you rightly? You offer to furnish 
 the money?" 
 
 "There's more money in your process than 
 in the Consolidated. They are a lot of old 
 
 294
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 fogies. They can't see it I can. I furnish 
 the money secretly, and I'll help organize the 
 Chase Steel Company. " 
 
 "You'll do it fairly and honorably?" de- 
 manded Chase. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Your terms?" 
 
 "I'll control the company, but you shall be 
 president at a big salary." 
 
 "What else?" 
 
 "You mustn't sell any of your stock for ten 
 years?" 
 
 "What else?" 
 
 "Any further inventions must go to the com- 
 pany at low royalty. Stick to me, John, and 
 you '11 have more millions than you have fingers 
 and toes." 
 
 "What else?" demanded Chase again. 
 "There must be more?" 
 
 "That's about all er except for a few 
 minor conditions." 
 
 "Oh, minor conditions! Well?" 
 
 Hendrix thrust his hands in his trouser- 
 295
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 pockets. He knew that now he was about en- 
 tering on dangerous ground. He hesitated, 
 therefore, for some time before he said: 
 
 "There's a favor I'd like to have your 
 daughter visit at my house?" 
 
 "A favor?" 
 
 "Yes. Between these families of partners, 
 there is generally social intercourse. I met 
 Jack when I came." 
 
 "Suppose she calls," suggested Chase. 
 
 "I didn't say call, John," said Hendrix: 
 patiently; "I said visit." 
 
 "How long?" 
 
 "Two years. Then the agreement between 
 yourself and Mrs. Hendrix terminates, and the 
 girl herself can decide where she will visit and 
 where she will live." 
 
 Chase turned on the other man, bitterly. 
 
 "And that's what you call 'a favor'?" he 
 cried. . . . "It's the whole condition the 
 one condition. Did you think you had me 
 fooled, Hendrix? Did you suppose that I be- 
 lieved that the man who would cut the throat 
 
 296
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 of his own company could be honest? I knew 
 from the beginning, and I led you on and on, 
 until you showed me your hand. You bought 
 my wife. Now, you'd buy my daughter buy 
 her, for twenty millions!" 
 
 "Me?" cried Hendrix, throwing up his hands. 
 "Buy her, for twenty millions? Girls are up! 
 I wouldn't give two bits for her. I carry out 
 a whim of my wife's that all. I always give 
 my family what they want, when I can get it." 
 
 "Your offer is refused," said Chase curtly. 
 "Go!" 
 
 "The Supreme Court for yours," said Hen- 
 drix briskly, as he turned to leave the room. 
 
 297
 
 CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 OUT OF CHAOS 
 
 HENDEIX, in high dudgeon, did not, how- 
 ever, leave the room, as he had at first 
 resolved to do, when John Chase contemptu- 
 ously and indignantly put his offer aside. The 
 reason for this was that, in stamping out toward 
 the doorway, he was forced to a sudden halt, 
 and to a movement backward quite as sudden, 
 in order to avert a collision with his own son 
 and John Chase's daughter. 
 
 These two young persons stood hand in hand 
 and smiling most beautifully at all the world, 
 including Thomas Hendrix and John Chase. 
 
 The two men looked in angry wonder at the 
 pair at the clasped hands, advertising so 
 broadly the complete and tender understand- 
 ing between them. There was a moment's 
 
 298
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 pause, in which Thomas Hendrix snorted an ex- 
 pression of his displeasure, and John Chase 
 took a step forward, as if he would forcibly de- 
 tach the hand of his daughter from the clasp 
 of young Hendrix. 
 
 But Jack anticipated anything that either of 
 the parents might have thought to say, by 
 speaking himself: 
 
 "Well," he said, genially, "we're here." 
 
 "What is it?" asked his father, roughly. 
 
 The anger of his parent's tone did not serve 
 to disconcert the young artist. 
 
 "Well," he replied affably and airily, "you 
 see, dad, we could not overlook a bit like this 
 having you two together, you know. So, we 
 have come to ask your consent " 
 
 "What consent?" demanded both fathers, 
 fiercely and simultaneously. 
 
 Young Hendrix laughed, and nodded his head 
 briskly in the affirmative. 
 
 ' ' Sure ! " he said. ' ' Willa and I have decided 
 to get married." 
 
 "Good God!" 
 
 300
 
 For once in their lives, Chase and Hendrix 
 were acting completely in unison. 
 
 There was a pause ; then, still of one accord, 
 they wheeled on each other. 
 
 "This is your work!" Chase cried. 
 
 "You knew all about this!" stormed Hen- 
 drix. 
 
 Chase's horror and disgust were openly mani- 
 fested. 
 
 "I knew!" he exclaimed, with wrathful de- 
 nial in the ejaculation. 
 
 "I'd rather see my son " began Hendrix. 
 
 But Jack interrupted. He held to his gay 
 manner of speaking, though his face was white, 
 and the words came with little clicks from his 
 determinedly set jaws. 
 
 "Now now, dad!" he exclaimed. "This 
 isn't a tragedy, you know it's comedy. Don't 
 act like a stage millionaire. Be human if you 
 can!" 
 
 Unconsciously, there had come right then vis- 
 ually a sharp dividing of the Hendrix and Chase 
 families. It was due to Willa, half -frightened 
 
 301
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 by the tragic aspect of her own father's counte- 
 nance, for she went to him timidly, and, stand- 
 ing with her hand on his arm, an appeal to him 
 in her eyes, besought him mutely. 
 
 Chase, in turn, openly appealed to her. 
 
 "Willa," he said, "you cannot marry the 
 son of such a man ! ' ' 
 
 "Why can't IT' she demanded, in arms at 
 once in Jack's defense. Then, she added, 
 pertly : ' ' Mother married his father ! ' ' 
 
 Hendrix turned to Chase ; Chase to Hendrix ; 
 their long enmity was for a little time sub- 
 merged, forgotten in the face of what each 
 deemed a calamity threatening himself. 
 
 "John, this is awful!" gulped Hendrix. 
 
 "It is terrible ! ' ' replied Chase. "We 
 must " 
 
 "Yes, we must stop it," Hendrix hastened 
 to say. 
 
 "We will!" affirmed John Chase, violently. 
 
 Hendrix wheeled on Jack. 
 
 "I'll give you one more chance," he said. 
 
 "I don't need it," said his son, in retort. 
 302
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Hendrix made a gesture of impatience, in- 
 dicative of his being entirely without thought 
 of tolerance in the matter. 
 
 "You can't marry the daughter of an en- 
 emy," he said, firmly. "Drop this foolishness, 
 right here, or or I'll" 
 
 ' ' Why, dad, ' ' said Jack with a geniality thor- 
 oughly exasperating to his parent, "I told you 
 at the beginning that tragedy stuff didn't go 
 with me." He waved his hand, in gentle ex- 
 postulation. "You set me the example: you 
 married her mother." He smiled mischiev- 
 ously. " I 'm paying you a delicate compliment. 
 Now, go as far as you like." 
 
 Hendrix paused, frowning. He knew Jack 
 knew that behind the superficial flippancy 
 lurked a steady will. 
 
 "You my son "he began. 
 
 "Sure, I'm your son. I've got your blood in 
 me. If you wanted a son you could run over, 
 you ought to have adopted one." 
 
 The father flung out his hands, even turning 
 to Chase in his extremity. 
 
 303
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "John," he said, "the boy's stark crazy. 
 You you stop this." 
 
 "I will," replied Chase, with a certain grim 
 enthusiasm ; and he faced his daughter. 
 
 "Willa," he asked, "don't you see how im- 
 possible this marriage is? You can't marry 
 young Hendrix when his father is my bitterest 
 enemy." 
 
 Willa shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 "You seem very friendly," she observed, 
 without in the least sharing his excitement. 
 
 "Why, he's trying to ruin me, Willa," ex- 
 postulated her father. 
 
 1 1 Then, Jack and I will save you, daddy, ' ' she 
 said, smilingly. 
 
 And Jack at this juncture intervened : 
 
 "Mr. Chase," he said with a swift transition 
 to admirable earnestness, "I love Willa, and I 
 intend to marry her. Won't you give your 
 consent ? ' ' 
 
 "No." 
 
 Willa took a cue from Jack. She went, with 
 great deliberation, over to Hendrix. 
 
 304
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Mr. Hendrix," said she, "I love Jack, and 
 I intend to marry him. "Won't you take me 
 for a daughter 1 ?" 
 
 Hendrix scowled at her undeniably fresh, 
 bright and charm ing countenance. 
 
 "Young woman," he snarled, "I don't want 
 you for a daughter I won't have you ! ' ' 
 
 Instantly, Willa's little nose was in the air. 
 She shrugged her shoulders, nonchalantly. 
 
 "We didn't intend to have anything to do 
 with you, anyhow," she said, in disdainful com- 
 placency. 
 
 Hendrix snarled his anger and amazement 
 
 "John," he said, "they're both crazy." 
 
 "They are," assented Chase. 
 
 "And you are responsible!" roared Hendrix. 
 
 "I, responsible!" cried Chase, furiously. 
 
 "Yes, you permitted it," retorted Hendrix, 
 bitterly. "You must have known! Why did 
 you let my boy come here? It's easy to see 
 what you wanted. Through your daughter and 
 my son, you thought you'd hold me." 
 
 ' * Hendrix, enough of that ! ' ' Chase burst out. 
 305
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 It hardly needed the speaker's shaken fist to 
 warn the magnate that he had gone too far. 
 Chase, his glance of hot anger and scorn cen- 
 tered on Hendrix, had not observed the entrance 
 of Dorothy and his former wife. 
 
 "I tell you, Hendrix," Chase went on, "I'd 
 rather face ruin a thousand times than give 
 my daughter to your wife, or have her marry 
 your son ! ' ' 
 
 * ' Ruin ! ' ' cried Dorothy, moving rapidly over 
 to her husband, as she caught the ominous 
 word. 
 
 "Marry!" exclaimed Mrs. Hendrix, seizing 
 that word most important to her own maternal 
 ears. 
 
 "What is it, John?" urged Dorothy, peremp- 
 torily. 
 
 "These Hendrix," he said, with intense bit- 
 terness, "are trying to ruin me and, now, his 
 son wants to marry my daughter!" 
 
 Dorothy looked at her husband, calmly. 
 
 "Well, why shouldn't he?" she asked, in 
 serene inquiry. 
 
 306
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 He drew away from her in a sudden access of 
 horror. 
 
 "Dorothy!" he expostulated. 
 
 Mrs. Hendrix's voice was heard. 
 
 "Do you still think your son better than my 
 daughter?" she was demanding. 
 
 "I know it," retorted Hendrix, with flat de- 
 fiance. 
 
 "She shall marry him," replied his wife, in 
 anger. 
 
 "Mother!" 
 
 It was Willa, and the girl's cry had a tremor 
 of joy in it. 
 
 Jack clapped his hands. 
 
 "Bully! "he cried. 
 
 Meanwhile, John Chase was regarding his 
 wife with injured, remonstrating eyes. 
 
 "Dorothy," he asked, "do you think this is 
 being a mother to my child f I married you for 
 that." 
 
 She stared at him. 
 
 "You did?" she demanded, with some in- 
 dignation. But, immediately recovering, she 
 
 307
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 nodded and smiled. ''Very well," said she; 
 "I'll accept a mother's authority." With the 
 most maternal air of which she was capable, she 
 turned to the younger girl. 
 
 "Willa, dear," she said; "it's settled: you 
 marry Jack. ' ' 
 
 "Oh, Dorothy!" exclaimed her erstwhile an- 
 tagonist, genuine contrition mingling with her 
 joy. 
 
 "Yes, Willa," said her own mother cor- 
 roboratingly, with decision. 
 
 " No ! " cried Hendrix, storming anew. 
 
 " No ! " echoed Chase, as hotly. 
 
 "She shall!" declared Mrs. Hendrix. 
 
 "Yes," said Dorothy, "she shall! We are 
 her mother." 
 
 "Dorothy!" cried Chase. "I tell you, I 
 won't have this marriage. I forbid it!" 
 
 Willa 's voice foreboded tears. 
 
 "I think it is very mean and horrid of you, 
 father. Dorothy knows Jack much better than 
 you do. She knows he's the one man in all the 
 world. ' ' 
 
 308
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Tom Hendrix 's son the one man in the 
 world!" gasped Chase, and he relapsed into 
 speechlessness. 
 
 Willa openly took hold of her lover's hand. 
 She was evidently quoting something as she 
 might have quoted the Bible. In this case, it 
 was young Hendrix. 
 
 "Is it Jack's fault that his father is as he is? 
 His father was here before Jack was. Jack 
 didn't make his father's character." She re- 
 garded Hendrix, senior, with the most open- 
 faced scorn. 
 
 The financier, thus shamelessly attacked, was 
 infuriated. But he was too wily to attempt any 
 further bullying of his son. Instead, he 
 pleaded. Indeed, he almost whined : 
 
 "Jack, stop this madness! I'll do anything 
 for you, boy. I'll make you in any legitimate 
 business!" 
 
 Jack amazed Willa, by suddenly dropping 
 her hand, and moving over to his father. 
 
 "Do you mean it, dad?" he asked, eagerly. 
 
 ' ' Jack ! ' ' Willa said, half -sobbing. 
 309
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 Dorothy and Mrs. Hendrix stared at each 
 other with misgiving and horror almost equal 
 to the emotions of the girl. 
 
 "Yes," said Hendrix, himself most surprised 
 of all, but pressing the advantage swiftly, 
 "yes anything! I'll give you a million. I'll 
 start you in any business you wish, if you'll 
 promise not to talk marriage to her, not to visit 
 her or write to her, for a year." 
 
 "You're on!" said his son, with enthusiasm. 
 He held out his hand. His father gripped it, 
 triumphantly. 
 
 "Oh!" was all the speech of which the for- 
 lorn little Willa was capable. She turned 
 toward Dorothy, gratefully accepting the com- 
 fort of the arm of her step-mother as it en- 
 circled her waist. 
 
 "My boy!" exclaimed Hendrix, still in the 
 flush of victory. And, then, he spoke to his 
 wife with a grin: "He'll forget her in a 
 year." 
 
 Jack, however, stood back, looking at them 
 all with the play of the whimsical smile on his 
 
 311
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 lips that was his charm. After a moment, he 
 crossed boldly over to Willa's father. 
 
 "Mr. Chase, you heard? I have a million. 
 I'd like to make an offer for the Chase pat- 
 ents." 
 
 Chase drew away. The play of young Hen- 
 drix's mind, his ingenious trapping of his own 
 astute parent, had been a little too rapid for 
 the comprehension of any of them. 
 
 "I'm serious," said Jack, almost curtly. 
 "I'll furnish the money. We'll organize the 
 Chase Steel Company. I'll control it, but you 
 shall be president at a big salary." 
 
 "What else?" asked Chase, who, much as 
 he hated this young fellow's father, had never 
 been able and he had tried often to harden 
 himself against the lad's amiability quite to 
 muster a genuine dislike of the smiling, 
 whimsical youngster. It was half in accord 
 with this very quality of whimsicality that he 
 now asked the question. "What else?" 
 
 "You must not sell any stock for five years, 
 and any further inventions to belong to our 
 
 312
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 company," said Jack, in a most businesslike 
 manner. 
 
 Hendrix, senior, had stood with jaws agape, 
 the while. But, somehow, the fury that had 
 first violently assailed presently yielded to 
 other thoughts. 
 
 " Tricked!" said he. And, then, he added, 
 with a note of irrepressible pride: "He's my 
 boy!" 
 
 "And my daughter?" asked Chase flatly, of 
 young Hendrix. 
 
 "The question rests with you or well, I 
 guess, really, it's up to her." 
 
 "No!" Chase clamped his jaws again of a 
 sudden. 
 
 But Jack stood up boldly. This time, he 
 looked squarely into the eyes of Chase, and 
 now he was not smiling: 
 
 "You won't take the pill sugar-coated in a 
 year?" he said, the blood mounting to his 
 cheeks. "All right, then, you shall take it now 
 now!" He turned with a hand stretched 
 out to Willa. 
 
 313
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 "Come, little girl," he said. "We'll marry 
 to-day!" 
 
 "Jack!" 
 
 It was all Willa could say just then, as she 
 flew to him, while Dorothy and Mrs. Hendrix 
 smiled in their relief and satisfaction at what 
 was happening. 
 
 1 1 Stop ! ' ' cried Chase. ' * I forbid it ! Willa, 
 remember your duty to your father ! ' ' 
 
 "Yes, duty, Jack!" supplemented Hendrix, 
 avidly seizing the word. "Your duty to me!" 
 
 "Duty!" exclaimed Willa, doubtfully. 
 
 "Duty? Fiddlesticks!" said young Hen- 
 drix. He thereupon shook his fingers vigor- 
 ously at his parent and Chase. "I charge you, 
 fathers, to remember your duty to us. You 
 got yourselves into this pickle. We didn't. 
 Eemember your duty to us." 
 
 "Our duty!" the men cried out, aghast before 
 this outrageous accusation. 
 
 "Yes," said the young man sturdily, with 
 steady eyes traveling from one to the other. 
 "Duty and love run forward not backward. 
 
 314
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 If we are not what we should be, why, then, it's 
 you who failed, not us. Why didn't you bring 
 us up better? Your lives are settled and fixed; 
 you've had your chances. If you're unhappy, 
 don't blame us. It's our turn, now. We have 
 our lives to live. You live for each other, and 
 for those to come after." 
 
 There was a silence. Willa was regarding 
 Jack with ecstatic eyes. The others, however, 
 simply stared, bewildered by this filial heresy. 
 
 "You can buck Wall Street and win, dad, 
 but you can't buck nature. Be sensible," 
 young Hendrix concluded. 
 
 "Don't talk that copy-book stuff to me, boy," 
 declared Hendrix, violently, recovering his 
 usual fierce energy in a struggle. 
 
 "Father, listen!" This was Willa pleading 
 to her parent. 
 
 Chase, nevertheless, maintained an obstinate 
 silence. It was Dorothy who spoke, at last: 
 
 "They are right, John," she asserted. 
 "You want to keep Willa 's love. Don't you? 
 You want her, after she's married, to love you 
 
 315
 
 as her father, not to think of you as that middle- 
 aged, rather unprepossessing man who tried 
 to kill her happiness." 
 
 "Dorothy!" stammered Chase, at his wits' 
 end for a reply. "Do you know what you are 
 saying? Why why, you talk as if you wanted 
 her to go!" 
 
 "I do," she said to him, clearly; nor did 
 she hesitate at his palpable amazement. "I 
 do for her happiness for your happiness. 
 You must choose, John. We can't continue as 
 we have been. Step-mothers and step-daugh- 
 ters weren't intended for one house. Your 
 daughter, or your wife!" She hesitated, but 
 said finally, and with decision unmistakable: 
 "Your daughter goes, or I go, and you must 
 take your choice." 
 
 "Yes," assented Willa. 
 
 "Willa Dorothy!" pleaded the man pathet- 
 ically. 
 
 Mrs. Hendrix, too, had something to say just 
 then to her millionaire husband. Her manner 
 and the tone of her voice were as decisive as 
 
 316
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 had been the manner and voice of Dorothy. 
 
 "It's your time to choose, Mr. Hendrix," 
 she said. "Do you accept my daughter!" 
 
 "Well now now! My dear " He es- 
 sayed to go on, but she cut him short. 
 
 "If she isn't good enough to be your daugh- 
 ter, I'm not good enough to be your wife. Now, 
 choose!" she bade him, and her eyes sparkled, 
 dangerously. 
 
 Hendrix frowned. He rammed his hands in 
 his pockets, and paced the room. Then, at last, 
 he looked up, and spoke : 
 
 "John Chase," said he, "I think we'd better 
 compromise." 
 
 The clouds of perplexity cleared a little, 
 slowly, from the brow of the inventor. 
 
 "Between my daughter and my wife, there's 
 only one choice," he said, humbly tender: "my 
 wife." 
 
 "My offer still holds, Mr. Chase," put in 
 young Hendrix, promptly. 
 
 1 ' There, then ! ' ' said Dorothy. ; * You '11 come 
 318
 
 THE SECOND WIFE 
 
 back on your father's terms, Willa, and wait 
 until he's ready for you to marry?" 
 
 Willa kissed her step-mother on both cheeks, 
 her lips smiling, her eyes abrim with tears. 
 
 ."Of course, 'Mother* Dorothy," she said 
 heartily, and with a new-born, but not the less 
 genuine, affection. 
 
 There followed a brief, impressive silence. It 
 was John Chase who broke it. He scanned 
 them all, but most particularly did he look at 
 Dorothy and Willa; and, at last, he spoke in 
 accents of amazement. 
 
 He said: 
 
 "Well, I '11 be hanged!" 
 
 THE END.
 
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