The Mayors Wife | Page 6

daze of misery, that she did not recognize me when I spoke to
her. I thought it was a passing mood at the time; she is a sensitive
woman and she had been reading--I saw the book lying on the floor at
her side; but when, having recovered from her dejection--a dejection,
mind you, which she would' neither acknowledge nor explain--she
accompanied me out to dinner, she showed even more feeling on our
return, shrinking unaccountably, from leaving the carriage and showing,
not only in this way but in others, a very evident distaste to reenter her
own house. Now, whatever hold I still retain upon her is of so slight a
nature that I am afraid every day she will leave me."
"Leave you !"
My fingers paused; my astonishment had got the better of me.
"Yes; it is as bad as that. I don't know what day you will send me a
telegram of three words, 'She has gone.' Yet she loves me, really and
truly loves me. That is the mystery of it. More than this, her very
heart-strings are knit up with those of our child."
"Mayor Packard,"--I had resumed work,--"was any letter delivered to
her that day?"
"That I can not say."
Fact one for me to establish.
"The wives of men like you--men much before the world, men in the
thick of strife, social and political--often receive letters of a very
threatening character."
"She would have shown me any such, if only to put me on my guard.
She is physically a very, brave woman and not at all nervous."
"Those letters sometimes assume the shape of calumny. Your character
may have been attacked."
"She believes in my character and would have given me an opportunity

to vindicate myself. I have every confidence in my wife's sense of
justice."
I experienced a thrill of admiration for the appreciation he evinced in
those words. Yet I pursued the subject resolutely.
"Have you an enemy, Mayor Packard? Any real and downright enemy
capable of a deep and serious attempt at destroying your happiness?"
"None that I know of, Miss Saunders. I have political enemies, of
course men, who, influenced by party feeling, are not above attacking
methods and possibly my official reputation; but personal
ones--wretches willing to stab me in my home-life and affections, that I
can not believe. My life has been as an open book. I have harmed no
man knowingly and, as far as I know, no man has ever cherished a wish
to injure me."
"Who constitute your household? How many servants do you keep and
how long have they been with you?"
"Now you exact details with which only Mrs. Packard is conversant. I
don't know anything about the servants. I do not interest myself much
in matters purely domestic, and Mrs. Packard spares me. You will have
to observe the servants yourself."
I made another note in my mind while inquiring:
"Who is the young man who was here just now? He has an uncommon
face."
"A handsome one, do you mean?"
"Yes, and--well, what I should call distinctly clever."
"He is clever. My secretary, Miss Saunders. He helps me in my
increased duties; has, in a way, charge of my campaign; reads, sorts and
sometimes answers my letters. Just now he is arranging my
speeches--fitting them to the local requirements of the several

audiences I shall be called upon to address. He knows mankind like a
book. I shall never give the wrong speech to the wrong people while he
is with me."
"Do you like him?--the man, I mean, not his work."
"Well-yes. He is very good company, or would have been if, in the
week he has been in the house, I had been in better mood to enjoy him.
He's a capital story-teller."
"He has been here a week?"
"Yes, or almost."
"Came on last Tuesday, didn't he?"
"Yes, I believe that was the day."
"Toward afternoon?"
"No; he came early; soon after breakfast, in fact."
"Does your wife like him?"
His Honor gave a start, flushed (I can sometimes see a great deal even
while very busily occupied) and answered without anger, but with a
good deal of pride:
"I doubt if Mrs. Packard more than knows of his presence. She does not
come to this room."
"And he does not sit at your table?"
"No; I must have some few minutes in the day free from the suggestion
of politics. Mr. Steele can safely be left out of our discussion. He does
not even sleep in the house."
The note I made at this was very emphatic. "You should know," said I;
then quickly "Tuesday was the day Mrs. Packard first showed the

change you observed in her."
"Yes, I think so; but that is a coincidence