helen rent thought she should have been conscious of a great feeling of relief when the room was free of the presence of the woman who had brought about her son's delirium. but such a sense was not experienced, nor even suggested.
"now tell me how this happened," she said.
"mother, i really cannot tell you," arnold responded. "the truth is, i do not know. it was all so spontaneous. it seemed so natural and inevitable at the time. here was one of the most beautiful women in the world, a good and true and pure woman, mind you, neglected by her husband in a manner that was positively shocking. don't forget that there are some natures to which neglect or hard words are worse than any physical cruelty. kate charlock's case is one in point. she was being slowly driven mad by the creature to whom she was tied. she was forced to go into frivolous society, or she would assuredly have lost her reason. it was at the house of one of these society women that i met her. even among a gathering like that she was looked up to and respected as none of the rest was. i saw her most cruelly insulted by her own husband in a house where i was spending the evening; in fact, the thing was so brutal that i ventured to expostulate. perhaps i went too far, but charlock did not seem to mind. i implored him to treat his wife differently, and it seemed to me that i had made some impression. then he asked me to call upon him at a certain time in the evening, when he would give me a practical reply. and what did i find when i got there?—the house stripped of everything, and the woman alone, with no better home to go to than a labourer's cottage, where she would not even be allowed the use of a servant. that is how charlock treated so perfect a woman as his wife. and then, i don't know how, but the whole rest happened on the spur of the moment, and i am here to-night to tell you this strange story. i could not say more."
"it sounds amazing," mrs. rent murmured. "let me put another point to you. suppose mr. charlock had no alternative but to part with his home! suppose that his wife's extravagance had brought him to the verge of ruin! suppose that a creditor had removed everything to pay his debt! do you think, in these circumstances, that the woman was justified in refusing to share the cottage which the man had to offer her? don't you think it was her bounden duty to make every sacrifice until those debts were paid?"
arnold rent waved the question impatiently aside.
"i don't know where you get your information," he said, "though i am prepared to admit, for the sake of argument, that what you say is true. at present other things trouble me. for better or worse, i have cast the die. you will admit that i cannot change my course now."
"i should be the last to suggest it," mrs. rent said mournfully. "what are you going to do in the meantime? your friends will turn their backs upon you. you will have to abandon your career. but i will not dwell upon that. i will confine myself to the moment. what are your plans?"
"my plans are simple enough, mother," rent replied. "for the present i shall continue my scientific work. nothing could interfere with that. and from now, until charlock makes up his mind what to do, i do not intend to see kate. you will acknowledge i want to prevent all the scandal i can, and in that respect i am looking forward to your assistance. if you will allow mrs. charlock to stay here and give her your moral support, i am certain——"
"oh, the boy is mad," mrs. rent exclaimed. "that woman's beauty has intoxicated you. i see now what a mistake i made when i regarded you as unspotted by the world. my friends were right when they said i should have sent you to a public school and university. do you suppose for a single moment that i could dream of having that woman here? do you suppose that i could allow her to come in contact with ethel hargrave?"
"need ethel know?" rent suggested sullenly.
"she knows already. i had to tell her. no, you shall stay one night here, but to-morrow you must go elsewhere. i have thought this matter out, and i have made up my mind what to do. your path is plain. you must make this woman see her folly and return to her husband. but did it never occur to you to ask yourself one question before you took this fatal step? do you suppose that this woman would have thrown in her lot with you if she had not known that you are arnold rent of alton lee and the heir to a large property? if i call her and tell her that everything is at my disposal, do you think she would not want time for consideration?"
"you malign her," arnold cried. "i am certain she never gave the matter a thought. for my sake——"
"ah, for your sake," helen rent said. "that is just the point i want to arrive at. for your sake i am going to try that woman in the balance. we shall see whether she is found wanting or not. from this week your allowance ceases. you will receive no more money from me. you will be thrown upon your own resources. you will have to earn your own living, and you will be the better man for it. the same remark applies to mrs. charlock, though not to such an extent, because, until the law settles the differences between her and her husband, she will be entitled to an income. mr. westlake told me this—i think he called it maintenance. it will not be much, but, at the same time, it will be enough to keep her in a modest way with due and becoming economy. i don't say that my decision is final, because if i find, say, at the expiration of five years that there is likely to be no more of these self-indiscretions and platonic follies, i may change my mind. but i am not going to see alton lee made an asylum for social experiments. had my prayers been answered and you had asked ethel to be your wife, i might think differently. but this matter is quite another story. i hope i have made my meaning plain. i hope i have made you understand that you will have to face the world now and work for your own living. you little realise how much it hurts a mother to speak in this fashion. perhaps you will know some day. meanwhile, i have nothing to add to what i have said. do you follow me?"
"oh, i hear right enough," arnold said bitterly. "i hope before long that you will realise the cruel injustice of what you are doing. and you may be sure that nothing will make any difference to kate charlock. she will be only too proud and pleased to have the opportunity of showing the stuff she is made of. i suppose i have to thank mr. westlake for all this."
"indeed, you are absolutely and entirely wrong," mrs. rent exclaimed. "the idea is wholly mine. of my own feelings i have said nothing. i have not alluded to the terrible grief and disappointment that this thing has been to me. to think that a son of mine could so far forget himself—but it is useless to go into that. i am tired and worn out, and this interview has tried me more than i thought. and there is another element in the drama of which as yet you know nothing. it may surprise you to hear that mr. john charlock himself is under this roof."
"he came to see you?" arnold cried.
"yes, but under the impression that your folly had ceased. you can imagine how distressing it was when the discovery was made. and now, how am i to get out of this dilemma? you will agree that one of you must go. it only remains for you to make up your mind which it is to be."
"i am prepared to do anything you ask," arnold said. "but what about mrs. charlock? what can we do with her?"
mrs. rent could only look at her son with troubled eyes.
"it is very strange how perverse women are," arnold went on. "one would almost think you are wilfully misunderstanding me. do you realise how much the woman sacrifices, and how little the man gives in return? it has always been a fancy of yours to regard me as a saint. let me tell you now that i am nothing of the sort. when i first saw mrs. charlock, when i first understood how unhappy she was in her domestic life, when i found what that woman really was, it was a revelation to me, and from that moment i laid aside all my selfish aims and ambitions, and i was prepared to make any sacrifice to save her from trouble and affliction. she is good and pure as ethel hargrave, and i want you to befriend her for her own sake, if not for mine. to all intents and purposes, charlock has deserted her. he has been guilty of legal cruelty by turning her out of the house and compelling her either to leave him or to degrade herself by menial work. his next folly will give her the chance of appealing to the law to release her altogether. and then i shall be in a position to make her my wife."
"mistress of alton lee?" mrs. rent stammered.
a gleam came into rent's eyes. there was something almost threatening in his attitude.
"ay, i mean that," he murmured. "nothing less. and the sooner you understand it the better."
