Polly Tries Her Wings

"Merely?" scoffed Nancy Ellen. "Merely!"

"Just 'merely,'" said Kate. "He didn't lay a finger on me; he
didn't ask me to marry him; he just merely met me after a long
separation, and told me that he still loved me."

"The brute!" said Nancy Ellen. "He should be killed."

"I can't see it," said Kate. "He did nothing ungentlemanly. If
we jumped to wrong conclusions that was not his fault. I doubt if
he remembered or thought at all of his marriage. It wouldn't be
much to forget. I am fresh from an interview with his wife.
She's an old acquaintance of mine. I once secured her for his
mother's maid. You've heard me speak of her."

"Impossible! John Jardine would not do that!" cried Nancy Ellen.

"There's a family to prove it," said Kate. "Jennie admits that
she studied him, taught him, made herself indispensable to him,
and a few weeks after his mother's passing, married him, after he
had told her he did not love her and never could. I feel sorry
for him."

"Sure! Poor defrauded creature!" said Nancy Ellen. "What about
her?"

"Nothing, so far as I can see," said Kate. "By her own account
she was responsible. She should have kept in her own class."

"All right. That settles Jennie!" said Nancy Ellen. "I saw you
notice the telegram from Robert -- now go on and settle me!"

"Is he coming?" asked Kate.

"No, he's not coming," said Nancy Ellen.

"Has he eloped with the widder?" asked Kate flippantly.