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Every other human being, almost, has a limit, beyond which they will not go a physical fear or a moral fear or a fear of public opinion. But the general he has no limit." "Yes," she said. And deathly pale and almost staggering she drew open the door and went out into the public hall. "For God's sake, Mrs. Siddall!" cried Harding, in great agitation. "Come in quickly.
In the glimpse she caught of that deeper and real personality, she liked it even less than she liked the one upon the surface. It was evidence of superior acumen that she saw even vaguely the real Bill Siddall, the money-maker, beneath the General William Siddall, raw and ignorant and vulgar more vulgar in his refinement than the most shocking bum at home and at ease in foul-smelling stew.
She was not disappointed. Presently in came a quietly-dressed, frank-looking woman of a young forty a woman who had by no means lost her physical freshness, but had gained charm of another and more enduring kind. As she came forward with extended but not overeager hand, she said: "I was expecting you, Mrs. Siddall that is, Miss Stevens." "Mr. Jennings did not say when I was to come.
Siddall returned to the modes and thoughts of a girl. "At home to live with you want only reposeful things. That is why the Greeks, whose instincts were unerring, had so much reposeful statuary. One grows weary of agitating objects. They soon seem hysterical and shallow. The same thing's true of persons. For permanent love and friendship you want reposeful men calm, strong, silent.
By persistent rubbing in Presbury had succeeded in making the truth about her poverty and dependence clear to his wife. She continued to frown and to look unutterable contempt, but he had silenced her. He noted this with a sort of satisfaction and went on: "If Bill Siddall takes her, you certainly won't go there. He wouldn't have you. He feels strongly on the subject of mothers-in-law."
General Siddall smiled. Mildred wondered whether the points of his mustache and imperial would crack and break of, if he should touch them. She noted that his hair was roached absurdly high above the middle of his forehead and that he was wearing the tallest heels she had ever seen.
Mildred was agreeably surprised she was looking with fierce determination for agreeable surprises when the costly little man spoke, in a quiet, pleasant voice with an elusive, attractive foreign accent. "My, but this is grand grand, General Siddall!" said Presbury in the voice of the noisy flatterer. "Princely! Royal!" Mildred glanced nervously at Siddall.
Mildred saw in this painstaking recital of all the disagreeable and repellent facts about Siddall an effort further to humiliate her by making it apparent how desperately off she was, how she could not refuse any offer, revolting though it might be to her pride and to her womanly instincts. Doubtless this was in part the explanation of Presbury's malicious candor.
Her interest in clothes and in going about revived. She saw in the newspapers that General Siddall had taken a party of friends on a yachting trip around the world, so she felt that she was no longer being searched for, at least not vigorously. She became acquainted with smart, rich West Side women, taking lessons at Jennings's.
"On the contrary, he instructed me But I'd rather not talk about it, Mrs. Siddall." "Is she poor?" repeated Mildred. "Yes." "What became of her?" A long pause. Then Harding said: "She was a poor girl when the general married her. After the divorce she lived for a while with the man. But he had nothing. They separated. She tried various kinds of work and other things.
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