“How is it, then, that newspapers away off in New York and Massachusetts speak of you in this outrageous fashion?  They’re so far away that it seems strange they speak of you at all.”

He laughed with relief, feeling that the question marked a retreat toward weaker fortifications.

“You’re not very complimentary, are you, Hallie?  They must think me of some importance or they’d let me alone.  I wouldn’t subscribe to that clipping bureau if you fear we’re too much in the limelight.  I’ve been taking the service of one of these bureaus for several years, and I read every line the papers print about me.  It’s part of the regular routine in my office to paste them in scrapbooks.”

“I shouldn’t think you could burn them fast enough; what if the children should see them some day!”

“Well, you may be surprised to know that they’re not all so bitter.  Once in a long while I get a kind word.  That bill I got through the assembly separating hardened criminals from those susceptible of reform—­the indeterminate sentence law—­was praised by penologists all over the country.  It’s all in the day’s work; sometimes you’re patted on the back and the next time they kick you down stairs.  Without political influence you have no chance to help the good causes or defeat the bad schemes.”

“Yes, I suppose that is true,” she murmured weakly.

He had successfully met and turned her attack and the worst had passed; but he expected her to make some reference to Thatcher’s lawsuit for the control of the “Courier” and he was not disappointed.  Marian, who had a genius for collecting disagreeable information and a dramatic instinct for using it effectively, had apprised her of it.  This hazarding of Mrs. Owen’s favor became now the gravamen of his offense, the culmination of all his offenses.  She demanded to know why he had secretly borrowed money of her aunt, when from the time of their marriage it had been understood that they should never do so.  Her own fortune he had been free to use as he liked; she demanded to know why he had not taken her own money; but to ask financial favors of Aunt Sally, and this, too, without consultation, was beyond her comprehension.  She was on secure ground here; he had always shared her feeling that Mrs. Owen required cautious handling, but he had nevertheless violated their compact.  She rushed breathlessly and with sobs through her recital.

“And you haven’t seen Aunt Sally since; you have made no effort to make it right with her!”

“As to that, Hallie, I haven’t had a chance to see her; she’s only been home two days and I’ve been away myself since.  Now that I’m in her house I shall explain it all to her before I leave.”

“But you haven’t explained to me why you did it!  It seems to me that I have a right to know how you came to do such a thing.”