She had debated if she might deplore politics. She hated politics now.
But she had not dared to be frank. In five minutes more the bridges
were burned. The man and the woman were apart again, each in anguish,
and neither able to aid the other.

That Lockwin needed a trip to Washington could not be denied. That
Esther feared to speak of Davy was becoming very noticeable.

Yet no sooner is the husband gone than the woman laments the folly of
letting him leave her.

"Go, David," she had commanded, when she was eager with a desire to
keep him or to go with him.

"Shall I accompany you?" she asked, smiling and trembling.

"I must return by a lake steamer, and must see Corkey alone," the
husband had replied.

"A lake steamer!" In October! The affair alarmed the wife. She must
not let that fear be known.

"Live down your enemies, David!" she had said, as she kissed him.

The words were insincere. They had a false sound, or an unconvincing
sound. They had jarred on David Lockwin.

"I can outlive my friends easily enough, it seems," he thought, as he
recited the lines of holy fields over whose acres walked those blessed