Her lover was beside her and was suggesting that he escort her home.
THE
UNDERCURRENT
BY
ROBERT GRANT
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
F. C. Yohn
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
NEW YORK :::::::::::::: 1904
COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
Published, October, 1904
TO MY WIFE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Her lover was beside her and was suggestingthat he escort her home . . . . . Frontispiece
"I have missed you two young people at church lately"
"Oh, Emil, my husband, how could you!" she moaned
"Give it to me, Paul," demanded the youngwoman imperiously
"I am sure that this woman will tell me herstory"
Constance would find her in possession atLincoln Chambers
"I should like to marry because I am in love"
"Refuse a man like that who's crazy to marry you!"
The flowers were the bright, shining milestone
THE UNDERCURRENT
"Those whom God has joined together letno man put asunder." It seemed to thebride that the Rev. George Prentiss laidespecially solemn stress on these words, and as shelistened to the announcement that, forasmuch asEmil Stuart and Constance Forbes had consentedtogether in holy matrimony, he pronounced themto be man and wife, her nerves quivered withsatisfaction at the thought that she was Emil'sforever. The deed was done, and she was joyous thatthe doubt which had harassed her in her weakmoments—whether she was ready to renounce herambition to help in the great work of education forthe sake of any man—was solved and merged inthe ocean of their love. Doubtless Emil was notperfect, but she adored him. No one had evenhinted that he was not perfect, but she had made upher mind not to be ridiculous in her rapture, andto look the probable truth squarely in the face asbecame an intelligent woman. She knew thatuntil recently he had been only a clerk with Toler& Company, lumber merchants, and that he hadjust started in business on his own account. Hewas dependent for support on his individuallabors, but she had in her own name the nice littlenest-egg of five thousand dollars, realized fromthe sale of the family homestead at Colton, thecountry town, ten miles distant, from which, anorphan, she had come to Benham a year previous.She was marrying for love a young man who hadhis own way to make, just as hundreds of otherswere doing ev