There was a local busybody of a minister, and it was he who first
intimated to the then Mrs. Spalton that her dear and intimate friend,
was betraying her....
There followed the usual spying and publicity ... Mrs. Spalton won her
divorce....
* * * * *
But this was after several years. Long before the divorce was granted
John and Dorothy were aware of a tangible fruit of their love.... I had
often wondered why the Master so ardently, so often, wrote eloquently in
defense of the superior qualities of illegitimate children....
Dorothy bore their child ... a girl ... and went away to teach in a
smart school somewhere in the East, under an assumed name....
Now, after many years, Spalton and she married.
* * * * *
I saw in the sitting room a wonderful girl. She had shining, abundant
hair, and a face rendered superlatively beautiful by the glowing of
vivacity, understanding, feminine vitality behind it and through it,
like a lamp held up within. She was absorbed in the new exhibit of
Gresham's that hung on the walls of the guest room ... she wore a short,
bouncing, riding skirt, and carried a quirt in her hand.
I walked up to her, fascinated. Without letting her know who I was I
quoted Poe's _To Helen_ to her. She stood, smiling sweetly, as if it
were the most usual thing in the world, to have a lean, wild-faced
stranger address her with a poem.
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