The Mayors Wife | Page 3

speaker, he was expected to reap
hundreds of votes from the mixed elements that invariably thronged to
hear him, and, ignorant as I necessarily was of the exigencies of such a
campaign, I knew that not only his own ambition, but the hopes of his
party, depended on the speeches he had been booked to make in all
parts of the state. And now, three weeks before election, while every
opposing force was coming to the surface, this trouble had come upon
him. A mystery in his home and threatened death in his heart! For he
loved his wife--that was apparent to me from the first; loved her to
idolatry, as such men sometimes do love,-- often to their own undoing.
All this, the thought of an instant. Meanwhile he had been studying me

well.
"You understand my position," he commented. "Wednesday night I
speak in C---, Thursday, in R---, while she--" With an effort he pulled
himself together. "Miss--"
"Saunders," I put in.
"Miss Saunders, I can not leave her alone in the house. Some one must
be there to guard and watch--"
"Has she no mother?" I suggested in the pause he made.
"She has no living relatives, and mine are uncongenial to her."
This to save another question. I understood him perfectly.
"I can not ask any of them to stay with her," he pursued decisively.
"She would not consent to it. Nor can I ask any of her friends. That she
does not wish, either. But I can hire a companion. To that she has
already consented. That she will regard as a kindness, if the lady
chosen should prove to be one of those rare beings who carry comfort
in their looks without obtruding their services or displaying the extent
of their interest. You know there are some situations in which the
presence of a stranger may be more grateful than that of a friend.
Apparently, my wife feels herself so placed now."
Here his eyes again read my face, an ordeal out of which I came
triumphant; the satisfaction he evinced rightly indicated his mind.
"Will you accept the position?" he asked. "We have one little child.
You will have no charge of her save as you may wish to make use of
her in reaching the mother."
The hint conveyed in the last phrase gave me courage to say:
"You wish me to reach her?"
"With comfort," said he.

"And if in doing so I learn her trouble?"
"You will win my eternal gratitude by telling it to one who would give
ten years of his life to assuage it."
My head rose. I began to feel that my next step must strike solid
ground.
"In other words to be quite honest--you wish me to learn her trouble if I
can"
"I believe you can be trusted to do so."
"And then to reveal it to you?"
"If your sense of duty permits,--which I think it will."
I might have uttered in reply, "A spy's duty?" but the high- mindedness
of his look forbade. Whatever humiliation his wishes put upon me,
there could be no question of the uprightness of his motives regarding
his wife.
I ventured one more question.
"How far shall I feel myself at liberty to go in this attempt?"
"As far as your judgment approves and circumstances seem to warrant.
I know that you will come upon nothing dishonorable to her, or
detrimental to our relations as husband and wife, in this secret which is
destroying our happiness. Her affection for me is undoubted, but
something--God knows what--has laid waste her life. To find and
annihilate that something is my first and foremost duty. It does not fit
well with those other duties pressing upon me from the political field,
does it? That is why I have called in help. That is why I have called you
in."
The emphasis was delicately but sincerely given. It struck my heart and
entered it. Perhaps he had calculated upon this. If so, it was because he
knew that a woman like myself works better when her feelings are

roused.
Answering with a smile, I waited patiently while he talked terms and
other equally necessary details, then dropping all these considerations,
somewhat in his own grand manner, I made this remark:
"If your wife likes me, which very possibly she may fail to do, I shall
have a few questions to ask you before I settle down to my duties. Will
you see that an opportunity is given me for doing this?"
His assent was as frank as all the rest, and the next moment he left the
room.
As he passed out I heard him remark to Miss Davies:
"I expect Miss Saunders at my house before nightfall. I shall reserve
some minutes between