Professor Walsh’s plans were not laid in a day; but, without her realizing it, he considered each circumstance of Nannie’s life as she presented it to him, and decided on its possible relation to his own future.
At one of the few receptions which Arthur had felt bound to attend in Russellville, he met Professor Walsh.
“I am honoured to know you, Mr. Merwent,” remarked the educator affably, when they were introduced. “I have the deepest admiration for your profession. A—ah—distant connection of mine—though our names are not spelt the same—James K. Walshe of Chicago. You may have heard of him?”
“Every lawyer knows the reputation of your relative, Mr. Walsh,” replied Arthur. “In criminal cases he has few equals.”
“In case you ever go to Chicago I shall be most happy to give you a letter of introduction to him,” offered the Professor.
“Thank you,” returned Arthur, “I hardly think—” Then he appeared to reconsider. “It is true that I shall probably go to Chicago in the near future, and I should be very glad to go to see your relative.”
“Well, sir, you shalt have the letter.” The Professor compressed his lips, put the tips of his fingers together and regarded Arthur curiously. “Without fail. I will send it to your office tomorrow,” he added.
“Thank you,” repeated Arthur. And the two separated.
Nannie, on one of the rare occasions when Arthur was at home, sneeringly alluded to his attentions to Mrs. Low.
“You will kindly not interfere with the conduct of my personal affairs while you are so careless of your own,” he requested in a tone that closed the conversation.
A few days later the gossips of Russellville were informing their friends that Mrs. Low had gone to Chicago for an indefinite stay. Nannie at once wrote furiously to Lucy accusing her of plotting with deliberate intent to wreck her mother’s life.
Nannie’s accusations were so obviously ill founded that the only recourse left for Lucy’s wounded pride was silence, and she made no reply to a succession of violently worded letters.
Arthur appreciated in part the difficult situation in which his daughter was placed, and did his best to prevent her being drawn into this conflict. It was not long after Mrs. Low’s arrival in Chicago that Lucy learned that her father was spending most of his time in the state capital, where he was making important legal affiliations. In this way Nannie, left almost entirely to herself, began to depend more and more on the benevolent Professor, who showed a reserved but unfailing interest in her affairs.
He had a way of regarding her enigmatically through his twinkling glasses that made her always a little afraid of him, but he was also always able to impress other people, and her cautious instincts prompted her to lean toward his poise and aplomb while her vanity still further urged her to his conquest. Nannie was not unaware of the fact that the town had begun to comment on her association with him but her terror of being alone was greater than her habit of caution.
One evening after leaving school, a note from the Professor was delivered to her, in which he suggested that she come to the school building that night, as he had heard some rumors of Arthur’s doings which he thought she should know.
Nannie dressed herself and went out without hesitation, but she was careful to find her way along obscure streets and hoped fervently that neither “Cousin Minnie” nor her other relatives would hear of the visit.
The Academy was a large old fashioned red brick building with many additions and one wing which had a private entrance in a little-frequented lane where the Professor’s office was situated.
As Nannie came up the walk she could see his large shadow as he bent over his desk between the window and the light. She rang the bell at the side door and he himself admitted her. For some reason which she could not explain she felt at first an unusual discomfort in his presence, and, when he leaned forward and took her hand in a kind but casual manner, her heart gave a sudden leap and she glanced up at him suspiciously. However, he patted her shoulder comfortingly, and, as he repeated to her in a low tone some incidents of gossip about Arthur which had lately come to his ears, she was completely reassured. She was certain that he admired her tremendously, and she was determining in her heart that she would use his devotion as a weapon of defense against the continual disapprobation of “Cousin Minnie.”
Professor Walsh talked so long and so comfortingly that Nannie was startled when she looked at a clock on his book shelf and realized that she had allowed herself to remain until an hour which Russellville would consider scandalous. When Professor Walsh offered to escort her home she protested vehemently. If he were seen walking with her at such a time it might rob her of the position of an injured party which was what she desired the world to permit her in view of Arthur’s neglect.
It was a terrible moment for Nannie when she had told the Professor good night and walked into the street, only to find herself confronted at the very gate by a strange man who stepped up to her with an air of quiet determination and inquired if she were Mrs. Merwent.
“Y—yes,” stammered Nannie doubtfully, terror clutching her throat, though she was unable to conceive of what was about to happen.
“Why yes, this is Mrs. Merwent,” affirmed a brisk masculine voice as, from the deep shadow thrown by the Academy walls, Mr. Blair, Arthur’s colleague in several law cases, stepped out, followed by Arthur himself and another strange man.
Nannie, though technically guiltless of wrongdoing, was almost in a state of collapse and, scarcely knowing what she did, agreed to cooperate in the arrangements Arthur desired for a divorce.
Only once during the conversation, which was carefully listened to by all of Arthur’s companions, did she
