What must she do?
Stay here as a pensioner?
The idea was objectionable to her.
And yet he had set aside a goodly sum to be hers absolutely.
In the hands of a trust company in La Salle Street were railway certificates aggregating seventy-five thousand dollars, which yielded four thousand five hundred annually, the income being paid to her direct.
Could she refuse to receive this money?
There was Vesta to be considered.
Jennie felt hurt through and through by this denouement, and yet as she sat there she realized that it was foolish to be angry.
Life was always doing this sort of a thing to her.
It would go on doing so. She was sure of it.
If she went out in the world and earned her own living what difference would it make to him?
What difference would it make to Mrs. Gerald?
Here she was walled in this little place, leading an obscure existence, and there was he out in the great world enjoying life in its fullest and freest sense.
It was too bad.
But why cry?
Why?
Her eyes indeed were dry, but her very soul seemed to be torn in pieces within her. She rose carefully, hid the newspaper at the bottom of a trunk, and turned the key upon it.
CHAPTER LVIII
Now that his engagement to Mrs. Gerald was an accomplished, fact, Lester found no particular difficulty in reconciling himself to the new order of things; undoubtedly it was all for the best.
He was sorry for Jennie—very sorry.
So was Mrs. Gerald; but there was a practical unguent to her grief in the thought that it was best for both Lester and the girl.
He would be happier—was so now.
And Jennie would eventually realize that she had done a wise and kindly thing; she would be glad in the consciousness that she had acted so unselfishly.
As for Mrs. Gerald, because of her indifference to the late Malcolm Gerald, and because she was realizing the dreams of her youth in getting Lester at last—even though a little late—she was intensely happy.
She could think of nothing finer than this daily life with him—the places they would go, the things they would see.
Her first season in Chicago as Mrs. Lester Kane the following winter was going to be something worth remembering.
And as for Japan—that was almost too good to be true.
Lester wrote to Jennie of his coming marriage to Mrs. Gerald.
He said that he had no explanation to make. It wouldn't be worth anything if he did make it.
He thought he ought to marry Mrs. Gerald.
He thought he ought to let her (Jennie) know.
He hoped she was well.
He wanted her always to feel that he had her real interests at heart.
He would do anything in his power to make life as pleasant and agreeable for her as possible.
He hoped she would forgive him.
And would she remember him affectionately to Vesta?
She ought to be sent to a finishing school.
Jennie understood the situation perfectly.
She knew that Lester had been drawn to Mrs. Gerald from the time he met her at the Carlton in London.
She had been angling for him.
Now she had him.
It was all right.
She hoped he would be happy.
She was glad to write and tell him so, explaining that she had seen the announcement in the papers.
Lester read her letter thoughtfully; there was more between the lines than the written words conveyed.
Her fortitude was a charm to him even in this hour.
In spite of all he had done and what he was now going to do, he realized that he still cared for Jennie in a way.
She was a noble and a charming woman.
If everything else had been all right he would not be going to marry Mrs. Gerald at all.
And yet he did marry her.