"Oh yes, you must get a divorce. It is much better, you know. In my case
I couldn't, for he did nothing public. A divorce settles matters, and
puts you back where you were before. You might wish some day to marry
again."

"I have had enough of marriage."

"It isn't any harm to be a free woman--free in the eye of the law as
well as of conscience. I know an excellent lawyer--a Mr. Lyons, a
sympathetic and able man. Besides your husband is bound to support you.
You must get alimony."

"I wouldn't touch a dollar of his money," Selma answered with scorn. "I
intend to support myself. I shall write--work."

"Of course you will, dear; and it will be a boon and a blessing to me to
have you in our ranks--one of the new army of self-supporting,
self-respecting women. I suppose you are right. I have never had a
sixpence. But your husband deserves to be punished. Perhaps it is
punishment enough to lose you."

"He will get over that. It is enough for me," she exclaimed, ardently,
after a dreamy pause, "that I am separated from him forever--that I am
free--free--free."

A night's sleep served to intensify Selma's determination, and she awoke
clearly of the opinion that a divorce was desirable. Why remain fettered
by a bare legal tie to one who was a husband only in name? Accordingly,
in company with Mrs. Earle, she visited the office of James O. Lyons,
and took the initiatory steps to dissolve the marriage.