She shall not disgrace herself, for with all her faults she is my wife, and I have loved her so much.

Oh, Ethie, I love you still," and the wretched man leaned against a post as he sent forth this despairing cry for the Ethie who he felt was lost forever.
Every little incident which could tend to prove that what Harry had said was true came to his mind; the conversation overheard in Washington between Frank and Melinda, Ethelyn's unfinished letter, to which she had never referred, and the clause in Aunt Van Buren's letter relating to Frank's first love affair.

He could not any longer put the truth aside with specious arguments, for it stood out in all its naked deformity, making him cower and shrink before it.

It was a very different man who went up the stairs of the Stafford House to room No--from the man who two hours before had gone down them, and Ethelyn would hardly have known him for her husband had she been there to meet him.

Wondering much at his long absence, she had at last gone on with her dressing, and then, as he still did not appear, she had stepped for a moment to the room of a friend, who was sick, and had asked to see her when she was ready.
Richard saw that she was out, and sinking into the first chair, his eyes fell upon the note lying near the bureau drawer.