Should She Have Left Him? — page 134: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

128 SHOULD SHE HAVE LEFT HIM? So she left the lawyer, determined upon her policy, and that was to say nothing in her family, or to her friends, implying a doubt as to the regularity of the Trescotte marriage, and if anyone was presumptuous enough to speak of it within her hearing, she would summon to her aid all that arrogance which she knew so well how to use. Surely, she thought, as she was riding up town, the families of the Courte- nays and the Van Allens, with their powerful con- nections, were potent enough to force a respectful recognition of Mr. and Mrs. Trescotte. Mr. Banker had forced the acceptance of his daughter when her name had been compromised in its association with Tom Handysides, even though Mrs. Handysides had gone to the length of beginning a suit for divorce. Surely she could do as much. And the beginning of the effort was to be found in refusing to admit the possibility of a doubt of the integrity of the Trescotte relation. By the time this conclusion was reached so was the hotel at which she and her husband were stop- ping. For a lady, certainly not less than forty-six, accustomed to the most dignified leisure and the extreme of luxury, the three days since she had left home had been of unexampled industry. Excite- ment and her natural energy had kept her up. But though she was beginning to feel the effects of her labors, she had yet more business for the day. Her husband was anxiously awaiting her arrival. He was immediately thrown into confusion by the rapid change of front of his wife, When he last Comicboolk<s C@