When Alfred Hardy found himself on the train bound for Detroit, he tried

to assure himself that he had done the right thing in breaking away

from an association that had kept him for months in a constant state of

ferment. His business must come first, he decided. Having settled this

point to his temporary satisfaction, he opened his afternoon paper

and leaned back in his seat, meaning to divert his mind from personal

matters, by learning what was going on in the world at large.

No sooner had his eye scanned the first headline than he was startled by

a boisterous greeting from a fellow traveller, who was just passing down

the aisle.

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"Hello, Hardy!" cried his well meaning acquaintance. "Where are you

bound for?"

"Detroit," answered Alfred, annoyed by the sudden interruption.

"Where's the missus?" asked the intruder.

"Chicago," was Alfred's short reply.

"THAT'S a funny thing," declared the convivial spirit, not guessing how

funny it really was. "You know," he continued, so loud that everyone in

the vicinity could not fail to hear him, "the last time I met you two,

you were on your honeymoon--on THIS VERY TRAIN," and with that the

fellow sat himself down, uninvited, by Alfred's side and started on a

long list of compliments about "the fine little girl" who had in his

opinion done Alfred a great favour when she consented to tie herself to

a "dull, money-grubbing chap" like him.

"So," thought Alfred, "this is the way the world sees us." And he began

to frame inaudible but desperate defences of himself. Again he told

himself that he was right; but his friend's thoughtless words had

planted an uncomfortable doubt in his mind, and when he left the

train to drive to his hotel, he was thinking very little about the new

business relations upon which he was entering in Detroit, and very much

about the domestic relations which he had just severed in Chicago.

Had he been merely a "dull money-grubber"? Had he left his wife too much

alone? Was she not a mere child when he married her? Could he not, with

more consideration, have made of her a more understanding companion?

These were questions that were still unanswered in his mind when he

arrived at one of Detroit's most enterprising hotels.

But later, having telephoned to his office and found that several

matters of importance were awaiting his decision, he forced himself to

enter immediately upon his business obligations.

As might have been expected, Alfred soon won the respect and serious

consideration of most of his new business associates, and this in a

measure so mollified his hurt pride, that upon rare occasions he was

affable enough to accept the hospitality of their homes. But each

excursion that he made into the social life of these new friends, only

served to remind him of the unsettled state of his domestic affairs.




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