i
it is always more or less annoying to put away a wife. even if the expense of the process be little, as in these modern days it has come to be, and even if consent thereto be mutual, as is so often the case, there are in practically all cases so many unpleasant attendant features as almost to dispose one to favor the abolishment of the marriage idea, and to condemn it as one not destined to survive in these days of modern competition. this, the more especially as regards that monogamic idea of marriage which the government at washington harshly seeks to extend over our entire domain. as to the idea of polygamy, much may be said in its favor. thus, if one be tired of one wife, or bored by another, in polygamy it is easy to shift the domestic scene to a third, and that in wholly good-humored fashion. the idea of divorce has about it something almost personal, as though one were displeased over some matter, as though one held in one's heart something actually of criticism, or dissatisfaction, or mayhap condemnation of one's own earlier judgment in the selection of a helpmeet.
again, even after divorce has been consummated, there are so many small habits to be broken, heritage and hold-over of relations but recently sundered. for instance, if one has been accustomed every friday evening to have shoulder of pork and boiled cabbage at table, and if only one woman has evinced ability to prepare shoulder of pork and cabbage in the proper manner, and if that woman has chanced to be one's lately current wife, it is, let us repeat, an annoying thing to find that that particular woman, after deliberately forming and fostering in one a craving for shoulder of pork and cabbage—after having established an addiction, as it were, in one's soul for that viand—has with shameless disregard of wifely duty and domestic decency obliged one to divorce her, perhaps ex vinculo, or at least ab mensa et thoro.
and again there may be yet other habits upon the one hand or the other which must be broken or readjusted. if one's wife—or one of one's wives—has been in the habit of leaving her tatting each afternoon on the top of the table near the best view out of the bow window, and if one sees continually this abandoned tatting permanently left there in the confusion of her permanent departure—it is annoying, let us repeat, to be reminded of a habit to whose creator we have said farewell. it causes a mental ennui constantly to be removing tatting or embroidery.
or, if one's current wife has had the old-fashioned and not wholly well-bred habit of meeting one at the door of an evening, at the close of the day's labors—just as in the evening the cave woman greeted her man at the mouth of the cave to ask him what had been the fortune of the day's hunt—and if now that footfall, ill-bred, yet after all habitual—and was it wholly unwelcome, after all?—shall have ceased for ever, with what equanimity, let us ask, can we regard the memory of the woman who formed that habit and handed down an annoying expectation to her husband, impossible of fulfillment after her departure?
it is, as john rawn wisely has said, true that much may be said in favor of the idea of marriage; yet upon the other hand, how very much there is that could be said against it, or at least against it as implying an unrestricted continuance, offering no change in association. the which is by way of saying something to prove john rawn's excellently philosophical course in life to have been quite correct. there could have been no doubt as to the wisdom of his marrying laura, his wife, in the first place, no doubt as to the wisdom of continuing the marriage relation with her for many years; but, upon the other hand, it is obvious that his idea of the timeliness of the divorce in due season was equally wise. indeed, the only reservation in his mind in regard to this latter matter was one of censure for a woman who, having entered into the holy state of matrimony with a gentleman of his parts, had had the temerity to create in his soul an addiction for shoulder of pork and cabbage; who had left her tatting upon the table; and who, departing, had given no future address whither her tatting might be sent! yes, laura rawn had been, without doubt or question, an unreasonable and unkind wife.
above all it was wrong for a woman to go away and leave her late husband feeling so much alone. why should he, john rawn, be allowed to become conscious of a feeling of lonesomeness? why should he be left to dread the drawing of the curtains at night, when there remained only the pound of the surf along the wall, the wail of the wind in the cornice? one chloroforms a formerly prized dog, but misses it. it is much the same way with the divorced wife. too many unpleasant features attend the process of such separation. any civilization worth the name ought to devise some method less annoying for this which mr. rawn has so fittingly described as the corollary of the marriage rite. surely our boasted age has its drawbacks, its shortcomings!
ii
some men in such circumstances brood; some drink; others search out the other woman or women. john rawn was cast in different mold. he had, in short, spoken truth when he told his wife that he had no new matrimonial plans. situated thus, yet handicapped thus in his new-found solitude, but a few days had passed before he sent over for his daughter, grace, and her husband, charles halsey; there being in his mind a plan to mitigate certain unpleasant features of his life as he now found it ordered.
he greeted halsey and grace at the door gravely, with dignity, when they came one evening in response to his invitation. they entered, just a trifle awed, as they always were, by the august surroundings of graystone hall, so different from their own cottage near the factory. the owner of the place looked well the part of owner here. john rawn still was large and strong, the city had not yet much softened his lines. his hair now was whiter about the temples, but its whiteness left his appearance only the more distinguished. you scarce could have found in all the haunts of prominent citizens a better example of prominent citizen than himself, john rawn.
the major domo took the wraps of the young people and vanished silently. rawn, waiting for them in the drawing-room—not in the hall, as once he would have done—with dignity motioned them to places in his presence, even brought a low chair himself for the sad-faced, hunchbacked child which represented the rawn succession in the third generation.
"go kiss grandpa, lola!" said grace to her daughter; and went to show her the way. but the child, turning suddenly, only hid her face in her mother's skirt.
"laura's timid," apologized the mother. the disapproval on her father's face was obvious enough. he had passed bitter hours alone, pondering over this child, hesitating whether to love it or to hate it, whether to accept it or to regard it as a blot upon his life. he had hoped a grandson, since he no longer might hope a son of his own. this crippled child was the sole rawn succession. his pendulous lower lip trembled for a time in the self-pity which now and again came to john rawn. it seemed hard enough that he, john rawn, president of the international power company, should have no better evidence of gratitude on the part of fortune. he hated halsey all the more.
iii
but now he did not lack directness. "grace," he said, "i've called you over to-night because to-morrow, as you know, is friday."
"yes, pa."
"and as you know, grace, your mother—that is to say, the late mrs. rawn, always had the way—in short, i may say that she induced me to depend upon—i mean to say that always she had shoulder of pork and cabbage for friday evening. now, i am left alone, helpless—it is too much!"
mr. rawn made no attempt wholly to conceal his just emotion. "now look at me," he resumed. "your mother went away, and selfishly neglected to take into consideration this habit, or to provide any means for meeting it. my chef has tried often to prepare this dish. i must say he always has failed."
"why don't you write to mrs. rawn and ask her for the recipe?" asked young halsey soberly.
"that is not practical," rejoined mr. rawn icily, "even did i know that lady's present address; as i do not."
his daughter sat gazing straight at him, under her heavy brows, but made no comment. grace had not improved with years. her face was heavy, pasty, her expression morose. the corners of her mouth turned down, and deep vertical frown-wrinkles sat between her dark eyebrows.
"but i do not wish that name mentioned again," said john rawn raising a hand. "i dismissed that thought of asking her aid as something unworthy of me. let friday come. i shall seek no aid outside of those from whom it may fitly be expected." ah, hero!
iv
"now, grace," he continued later, turning toward her, "i know very well you're a good housekeeper."
"she is that!" halsey nodded. continually he forced himself into such approval of his wife as he could compass. continually he refused comparisons.
"precisely, and skilled in all the dishes which the late mrs. rawn had as specialties. you do not know how things are running here, grace. i can't get anything done on time, i'm at untold expense all the time, and am deprived of what i really want. grace, i need a housekeeper!"
"surely, pa. why don't you hire one?"
"how much better off would i be in that case? none in the least. no, i want you. you'll have to come over here to live!"
the young couple sat gazing at him for a time before making reply.
"that's impossible, pa," said grace. "i have a home of my own, and it's more than twenty miles from here."
john rawn raised a hand. "i have thought all that out. you reason now, as so many do, when any distinct change of life is proposed to them. you let the little things outweigh the larger ones. it was a fault your mother had. now the large matter, the really important thing, is this—that i can not be allowed to live on here in this way with all these annoyances. too much depends upon me, in business, for me to have the quiet and peace of my life interfered with. i've got to have a clear head—especially on saturday. now, then, if you can step in here, my daughter, and establish in some measure the sort of life i have always been used to, evidently that is your duty, and you ought not to balance against it the small inconveniences which that course would cause you and your husband. i'm quite sure you can teach that chef—"
"but, mr. rawn, i've got to be at the factory almost day and night!" broke in halsey.
"precisely. i do not mean for you to make your home here, only grace. you'll have to stay on where you are. of course, you can come here at times to report, at least once or twice a week—say friday night. very much depends on you, charles. you know how much i value you, how much i rely on your services. really, it all depends on you, our success as a company. we've been very patient, although i must say—"
v
halsey muttered something under his breath and turned away. his attitude angered rawn to the point of forgetting himself.
"never mind what you think about it, young man! it's what i think about it that counts. grace belongs here, anyhow. she will have a wider life with me. it's time she had some things which she has never known. it may be necessary for us to travel, to see something of this country and europe. besides, this child needs care. all these things cost more money than you can afford, young man. don't try to balk me in what i suggest. it is obviously the right thing to do."
"but how long—"
"indefinitely!"
"and you want me to break up my home 'indefinitely'? well, i must confess i don't in the least see it that way, mr. rawn."
"you're selfish, and that's why you can't see it, charles. above all things you ought to avoid the vice of selfishness. you are not parting from your wife, but only helping her to a better grade of living. meantime, of course, your duty to her and to the company is to make a success of your work. think of your business, my son. there is no good comes of selfishness. try to be just. and for god's sake, also, try to get one of those machines done!"
halsey only sat and looked at him darkly for a time, making no reply.
"it seems to me that i can never get you to understand, charles," resumed rawn, "that things are not the way they used to be before we came here to chicago. i'm a bigger man now than i was then. i've grown these last two or three years, my boy. i should not be surprised if eventually i were obliged to make my residence in new york, if indeed not abroad. we are rising in the world, rising very fast, charles. do you want to go up with the rawns, or stay down with the halseys of this world? besides, in this case you ought to respect the wishes of your own wife. you want to remember, my dear boy, that my daughter, grace, is half rawn as well as half johnson. the only trouble with her is, the rawn half has not yet had its innings."
vi
halsey turned and stared at his wife. he found her sitting with her dark eyes fixed, now on her father, now wandering hither and yon over the rich surroundings in her father's home. to his intense surprise, she had as yet issued no veto to this calm proposal to which they all had listened. in his surprise he forgot comment of his own. what caused him greatest surprise of all was his secret feeling that he was not so reluctant to this arrangement as he ought to be! he pondered grace, her sour visage, her morose air. he recalled countless angry, irritated, irritating words. he looked, and saw no longer any feminine charm. it took all his resolution not to question why he had ever made this choice. almost he began a certain comparison.
"now let this end it," resumed john rawn. "let comforts, and let luxuries, come where they have been earned. it's the rawn half of grace that has earned the luxuries, charles, if i am willing to give them to her. take what you can get, my son, of comfort and luxury in this life—after you've earned them. but earn them first. your place is over there at the works. this is your opportunity. fall in with my plans and i'll carry you along. don't try to hold grace over there when she belongs here. don't be selfish, charles."
he relented just a trifle. "i don't say this is going to last for ever. pull off success over there for us. i'll tell you what i'll do—the day you can charge a storage battery car from one of our second current receivers—finished and in place there in the factory—and run it from the factory up here, i'll make you a present of fifty thousand dollars."
vii
"and about grace—?" ah! that comparison—
"she'll be a good deal closer to you then than she is now. she's half rawn, i tell you, charles; and love in a cottage does not suit the rawn blood to-day!
"but i'll tell you—" his face lightened a bit at the jest—"you can go on with your brotherhood of man ideas over there at the factory. i hope you love them—those brothers who are trying to ruin me and this company! try them out—associate with them—love them all you can. compare that life with this, my boy; and when you've done your work, for which you are paid—when you can charge one car at one receiver, and come from that life to this, on the strength of your brains and your own ability, as i have come here myself—why, i say i'll give you a slice of a million dollars! then you can compare that life with this, and see how you like the two. i've made up my mind already about that! so has grace."
halsey turned once more to his wife. she had changed in the last few minutes. her eye was brighter, her color higher. she was gazing not at her husband nor at her child, but at these rich surroundings.
"i wonder if i could play one of my old pieces on the piano any more now?" she said gaily, rising and walking to the seat of the grand piano which stood across the room from them. "i've been so busy—"
