young woman whom he had selected as his partner in his shameful
escapade, but in this she was swayed almost entirely by a regard for
abstract morality.
As concerned Ruth, she felt that the situation was, on the whole, the
best thing that could have happened. To her Napoleonic mind, which took
little account of the softer emotions, concerning itself entirely with
the future of the race, Kirk had played his part and was now lagging
superfluous on the stage. His tendency, she felt, was to retard rather
than to assist William Bannister's development. His influence, such as
it was, clashed with hers. She did not forget that there had been a
time when Ruth, having practically to choose between them, had chosen
to go Kirk's way and had abandoned herself to a life which could only
be considered unhygienic and retrograde. Her defeat in the matter of
Whiskers, the microbe-harbouring dog from Ireland, still rankled.
It was true that in what might be called the return match she had
utterly routed Kirk; but until this moment she had always been aware of
him as an opponent who might have to be reckoned with. She was quite
convinced that it would be in the best interests of everybody,
especially of William Bannister, if he could be eliminated. There were
signs of human weakness in Ruth which sometimes made her uneasy. Ruth,
she told herself, might 'bear the torch,' but when it came to 'not
faltering' she was less certain of her.
Ruth, it was true, had behaved admirably in the matter of the
upbringing of William from the moment of her conversion till now,
but might she not at any moment become a backslider and fill the
white-tiled nursery with abominable long-haired dogs? Most certainly
she might. In a woman who had once been a long-haired dogist there are
always possibilities of a relapse into long-haired dogism, just as in a
converted cannibal there are always possibilities of a return to the
gods of wood and stone and the disposition to look on his fellow-man
purely in the light of breakfast-food.
For these reasons Mrs. Porter was determined to push home her present
advantage, to wipe Kirk off the map as an influence in Ruth's life. It
was her intention, having recovered William Bannister and bathed him
from head to foot in a weak solution of boric acid, to stand over Ruth
while she obtained a divorce. That done, she would be in a position to
defy Kirk and all his antagonistic views on the subject of the hygienic
upbringing of children.
She rapped the table and prepared to speak.
Even a Napoleon, however, may err from lack of sufficient information;
and there was a flaw in her position of which she was unaware. From the
beginning of the drive to the end of it Ruth had hardly spoken a word,
and Mrs. Porter, in consequence, was still in ignorance of what had
been happening that day in Wall Street and the effect of these
happenings on her niece's outlook on life. Could she have known it, the
silent girl beside her had already suffered the relapse which she had
feared as a remote possibility.
Ruth's mind during that drive had been in a confusion of regrets and
doubts and hopes. There were times when she refused absolutely to
