That he should be jealous of Cards, the most splendid, most
honourable fellow in the world! That, of course, was absurd. And yet they
were together so often, and it was with Jerry Cardillac alone that Clare
seemed now at ease.
But Peter put all such thoughts at once away from him. Had it been any
other man but Cards he might have wondered... but he would trust Cards
alone with his wife in the wilderness and know that no ill could come of
it. With--other women Cards might have few scruples--Peter had heard such
stories--but with Peter's wife, no.
Peter wondered whether perhaps Clare did not miss young Stephen more than
they knew! Oh, if that were the reason how he could take her into his arms
and comfort her and love her! Poor little Clare... the time would come when
she would show him that she wanted him.
Meanwhile the months passed, the proofs of "Mortimer Stant" had been
corrected and the book was about to appear. To Peter now everything seemed
to hang upon this event. It became with him, during the weeks before its
appearance, a monomania. If this book were a success why then dare and Mrs.
Rossiter and all of them would come round to him. It was the third book
which was always so decisive, and there was ground to recover after the
comparative failure of the second novel. As he corrected the proofs he
persuaded himself that "Mortimer Stant" wasn't, after all, so bad.
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