Whether she was daunted
and confused in her own conscience by the outcome,
so evil and disastrous, of the reparation to Rogers
which she had forced her husband to make, or whether her
perceptions had been blunted and darkened by the appeals
which Rogers had now used, it would be difficult to say.
Probably there was a mixture of both causes in the effect
which her husband felt in her, and from which he turned,
girding himself anew, to Rogers.
"I have no wish to recur to the past," continued Rogers,
with growing superiority. "You have shown a proper spirit
in regard to that, and you have done what you could to wipe
it out."
"I should think I had," said Lapham. "I've used up
about a hundred and fifty thousand dollars trying."
"Some of my enterprises," Rogers admitted, "have been
unfortunate, seemingly; but I have hopes that they will
yet turn out well--in time. I can't understand why you
should be so mindful of others now, when you showed
so little regard for me then. I had come to your aid at
a time when you needed help, and when you got on your feet
you kicked me out of the business. I don't complain,
but that is the fact; and I had to begin again, after I
had supposed myself settled in life, and establish myself elsewhere."
Lapham glanced again at his wife; her head had fallen;
he could see that she was so rooted in her old remorse
for that questionable act of his, amply and more than
fully atoned for since, that she was helpless, now in the
crucial moment, when he had the utmost need of her insight.
Pages:
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473