Houston’s friend seized him by the arm and gazed at him with horror.

“Governor,” said he, “you’re going to ruin your whole life!  What reason have you for treating this young lady in such a way?  What has she done that you should leave her?  Or what have you done that she should leave you?  Every one will fall away from you.”

Houston grimly replied: 

“I have no explanation to give you.  My wife has none to give you.  She will not complain of me, nor shall I complain of her.  It is no one’s business in the world except our own.  Any interference will be impertinent, and I shall punish it with my own hand.”

“But,” said his friend, “think of it.  The people at large will not allow such action.  They will believe that you, who have been their idol, have descended to insult a woman.  Your political career is ended.  It will not be safe for you to walk the streets!”

“What difference does it make to me?” said Houston, gloomily.  “What must be, must be.  I tell you, as a friend, in advance, so that you may be prepared; but the parting will take place very soon.”

Little was heard for another month or two, and then came the announcement that the Governor’s wife had left him and had returned to her parents’ home.  The news flew like wildfire, and was the theme of every tongue.  Friends of Mrs. Houston begged her to tell them the meaning of the whole affair.  Adherents of Houston, on the other hand, set afloat stories of his wife’s coldness and of her peevishness.  The state was divided into factions; and what really concerned a very few was, as usual, made everybody’s business.

There were times when, if Houston had appeared near the dwelling of his former wife, he would have been lynched or riddled with bullets.  Again, there were enemies and slanderers of his who, had they shown themselves in Nashville, would have been torn to pieces by men who hailed Houston as a hero and who believed that he could not possibly have done wrong.

However his friends might rage, and however her people might wonder and seek to pry into the secret, no satisfaction was given on either side.  The abandoned wife never uttered a word of explanation.  Houston was equally reticent and self-controlled.  In later years he sometimes drank deeply and was loose-tongued; but never, even in his cups, could he be persuaded to say a single word about his wife.

The whole thing is a mystery and cannot be solved by any evidence that we have.  Almost every one who has written of it seems to have indulged in mere guesswork.  One popular theory is that Miss Allen was in love with some one else; that her parents forced her into a brilliant marriage with Houston, which, however, she could not afterward endure; and that Houston, learning the facts, left her because he knew that her heart was not really his.

But the evidence is all against this.  Had it been so she would surely have secured a divorce and would then have married the man whom she truly loved.  As a matter of fact, although she did divorce Houston, it was only after several years, and the man whom she subsequently married was not acquainted with her at the time of the separation.