If only she could hold him—always!
The details of getting Vesta established once adjusted, Jennie settled down into the routine of home life.
Lester, busy about his multitudinous affairs, was in and out.
He had a suite of rooms reserved for himself at the Grand Pacific, which was then the exclusive hotel of Chicago, and this was his ostensible residence.
His luncheon and evening appointments were kept at the Union Club.
An early patron of the telephone, he had one installed in the apartment, so that he could reach Jennie quickly and at any time.
He was home two or three nights a week, sometimes oftener.
He insisted at first on Jennie having a girl of general housework, but acquiesced in the more sensible arrangement which she suggested later of letting some one come in to do the cleaning.
She liked to work around her own home. Her natural industry and love of order prompted this feeling.
Lester liked his breakfast promptly at eight in the morning.
He wanted dinner served nicely at seven.
Silverware, cut glass, imported china—all the little luxuries of life appealed to him.
He kept his trunks and wardrobe at the apartment.
During the first few months everything went smoothly.
He was in the habit of taking Jennie to the theater now and then, and if he chanced to run across an acquaintance he always introduced her as Miss Gerhardt.
When he registered her as his wife it was usually under an assumed name; where there was no danger of detection he did not mind using his own signature.
Thus far there had been no difficulty or unpleasantness of any kind.
The trouble with this situation was that it was criss-crossed with the danger and consequent worry which the deception in regard to Vesta had entailed, as well as with Jennie's natural anxiety about her father and the disorganized home.
Jennie feared, as Veronica hinted, that she and William would go to live with Martha, who was installed in a boarding-house in Cleveland, and that Gerhardt would be left alone.
He was such a pathetic figure to her, with his injured hands and his one ability—that of being a watchman—that she was hurt to think of his being left alone.
Would he come to her?
She knew that he would not—feeling as he did at present.
Would Lester have him—she was not sure of that.
If he came Vesta would have to be accounted for.
So she worried.
The situation in regard to Vesta was really complicated.
Owing to the feeling that she was doing her daughter a great injustice, Jennie was particularly sensitive in regard to her, anxious to do a thousand things to make up for the one great duty that she could not perform.
She daily paid a visit to the home of Mrs. Olsen, always taking with her toys, candy, or whatever came into her mind as being likely to interest and please the child.
She liked to sit with Vesta and tell her stories of fairy and giant, which kept the little girl wide-eyed.
At last she went so far as to bring her to the apartment, when Lester was away visiting his parents, and she soon found it possible, during his several absences, to do this regularly.
After that, as time went on and she began to know his habits, she became more bold—although bold is scarcely the word to use in connection with Jennie.
She became venturesome much as a mouse might; she would risk Vesta's presence on the assurance of even short absences—two or three days.
She even got into the habit of keeping a few of Vesta's toys at the apartment, so that she could have something to play with when she came.
During these several visits from her child Jennie could not but realize the lovely thing life would be were she only an honored wife and a happy mother.
Vesta was a most observant little girl.
She could by her innocent childish questions give a hundred turns to the dagger of self-reproach which was already planted deeply in Jennie's heart.
"Can I come to live with you?" was one of her simplest and most frequently repeated questions.
Jennie would reply that mamma could not have her just yet, but that very soon now, just as soon as she possibly could, Vesta should come to stay always.
"Don't you know just when?" Vesta would ask.
"No, dearest, not just when. Very soon now.
You won't mind waiting a little while.
Don't you like Mrs. Olsen?"
"Yes," replied Vesta; "but then she ain't got any nice things now.
She's just got old things."
And Jennie, stricken to the heart, would take Vesta to the toy shop, and load her down with a new assortment of playthings.
Of course Lester was not in the least suspicious.
His observation of things relating to the home were rather casual.
He went about his work and his pleasures believing Jennie to be the soul of sincerity and good-natured service, and it never occurred to him that there was anything underhanded in her actions.
Once he did come home sick in the afternoon and found her absent—an absence which endured from two o'clock to five.
He was a little irritated and grumbled on her return, but his annoyance was as nothing to her astonishment and fright when she found him there.