"Sister Martha tells me that Ethel is not happy, that she has ceased to
be the social butterfly, the cynosure of the fashionable set in
Philadelphia and New York.
"As the inconspicuous leader of the working men of a Pennsylvania mining
town I might have won her, even against the opposition of Gorman Purdy.
As a candidate for the Presidency, on the Independence party's ticket,
my hopes are idle."
He enters his room and finds a telegram on the table.
"VENETIA, L.I.
"As a friend I congratulate you on the honor you have
achieved; I wish that circumstances would permit me to aid
you in attaining victory. E.P."
In all the world there is no treasure more precious than the yellow slip
of paper which Harvey holds in his hand. It is a proof that Ethel has
not forgotten him; it even foretells that if victory were to rest on his
standards, he might claim a double prize--the Presidency and a bride.
"What right had I to expect that Ethel could descend from her sphere to
share the uncertain fortunes of a social reformer?" he muses.
"The conditions of life that have been fostered in the United States
since the era of the multi-millionaire make the problem of marriage more
complicated than ever before. How can a woman, born to luxury, hope to
find marital felicity with a man dependent on his daily wages for the
means of supporting himself and family?
"To say that she may bestow her wealth upon her husband, does not solve
the problem; it modifies it by adding a potent deterrent; for a man who
will be dependent upon his wife for support, lacks the essential
qualifications of a good husband.
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