The next day after Shippen’s visit Helen went into Shannon to make some purchases and to make sure of the amount of her balance at the bank. When she stepped from the car in front of Brim’s general merchandise store, it was as if she had stepped into a foreign land. The street, all things about her, were so familiar that she only remembered afterwards the strangeness of familiar faces. Two men whom she knew passed her with their eyes down. A woman regarded her with furtive curiosity and returned her salutation with the briefest bow, as if she did not really know her. All this happened so quickly that she was not yet aware that something very personal to her was happening.
She was still off her guard when Mrs. Flitch sailed by her between the lace and stocking counter, merely giving her an eye-for-an-eye look, but with no further recognition, although Helen had wished her a “Good afternoon, Mrs. Flitch.” She disposed of this hint by wondering what she had done to Mrs. Flitch, because this lady was notoriously[226] sensitive. She had a turgid temper and reserved the right to show her poverty and independence on the slightest provocation by ceasing to speak to you.
Half an hour later when she came out to her car, a cold rain was beginning. She saw Mrs. Shaw approaching with no umbrella to protect her new spring hat. She waited, meaning to pick her up and take her wherever she should be going. But when she hailed her, this lady affected not to understand. She bowed coldly with the rain in her face and said, “Good afternoon, Mrs. Cutter,” although she had always called her “Helen,” and passed on.
It is depressing to find yourself suddenly outlawed by the people whom you have always known. Helen was never popular in Shannon. Unhappy people rarely ever are. They have so little to contribute to the common fund of human animation. But she had a certain standing in the good will of her neighbors.
It was not until she reached the bank that the explanation of what was going on really dawned upon her. She had known that it must come, this news of her abandonment by her husband, but she had not expected it to fall upon her like a curse.
Arnold, who occupied the chair at the president’s[227] desk inside the doorway of the bank, having resumed this custom of the elder Cutter, had always risen to meet her when she came in. He would conduct her to the chair near his desk and attend personally to her affairs, if it was no more than the cashing of a check. This morning he was at his desk as usual. So was the extra chair, and nobody in it, but beyond a glance and a bow he took no notice of her. She went on to the cashier’s window and presented a check. She was startled to see him glance at it, then step swiftly back to the bookkeeper and make eye sure of her balance before he cashed it.
She took the bills, thrust under the wicket and stared about her confused. She had lost prestige here. Why? She wondered. She had spent the money left from her mother’s estate on the house, and a few thousands besides. But she was amply supplied with funds. She had never overdrawn her account.
Silly reflections! Childish defense against this financial coldness! If Arnold had known that she still had securities to the amount of considerably more than one hundred thousand dollars in her safety deposit box, his manner would have continued balmy. But he did not know this. He only knew that she was spending a great deal of[228] money. And he had dined with Shippen the previous evening.
Shippen had told him that she was separated from her husband. When he expressed surprise, Shippen expressed regret that he had “let the thing out”; he supposed the facts were already known in Shannon, he said.
Arnold assured him to the contrary. He said that he had had a “hunch,” because he was subject to hunches as a financial man; but he had rather expected Cutter himself to fail. He had never entertained the slightest suspicion of Mrs. Cutter. How long had she been separated from her husband?
Shippen replied that he did not know; but he had thought probably some time before Cutter resigned from the presidency of the Shannon bank and took up his residence in New York.
Arnold said he thought it must have occurred quite recently, because Mrs. Cutter had been with her husband in New York for at least five months. In fact, she had only returned to Shannon late in January.
“I am associated with Cutter. I see him every day. I am constantly in his home, a bachelor apartment, and I positively know that his wife has never been in the place,” Shippen replied.
[229]“But I tell you she left here soon after Cutter did, and she did not return until about two months ago,” Arnold insisted, round-eyed with amazement.
Shippen closed his lips grimly, implying that these were the lips of a gentlemen. A woman scorned may be dangerous, but a man defeated can be meanly revengeful. Shippen was reacting, after the manner of his kind, from the disgust he now felt toward this innocent woman.
No, he answered in reply to Arnold’s next question, there had been no divorce yet, though he had reason to believe Cutter would be glad to get one.
“Cutter!” Arnold exclaimed.
Shippen nodded; then after a pause he added: “My impression is that Mrs. Cutter will not be the one to bring the suit, if it is ever brought.”
“But he—man, do you know what you are saying about that woman?” Arnold exclaimed.
“I am saying nothing about her. I have seen something of her. I paid her a visit this afternoon, in fact; but—”
“You know her?”
“Since 1914,” he nodded.
A silence followed this news. Men know one another. Arnold knew Shippen. He sat now staring at the tablecloth. It was his duty, but he[230] would be sorry to tell his wife. She liked Mrs. Cutter. Also, it was his duty to see that the bank was secure in its dealings with her. Until this moment he would have advanced her any reasonable sum. He would warn Lambkin in the morning to keep an eye on her balance. A woman like that had very few financial scruples, and no sense of the future. They usually lived by the day. Still, this fellow Shippen might be mistaken. Arnold had been a resident of Shannon only a few years, but he had inferred that Mrs. Cutter was devoted to her home and husband, an ordinary woman, good looking but not attractive. He would have sworn she was not attractive. She had never attracted him and in a discreet way he had a man’s eye.
He accompanied Shippen to his train; then he went home and told Mrs. Arnold.
She was indignant. She said she did not believe a word of it. Later, Mrs. Shaw came in to borrow some yarn for a sweater she wished to finish that evening............