The sheet was
the back of his wife's letter, but he did not notice it.
De Gollyer, looking over his shoulder, exclaimed:
"Quite right. Fifteen thousand, divided by one."
"It will make a difference," said Lightbody slowly. Over his face passed
an expression such as comes but once in a lifetime; a look defying
analysis; a look that sweeps back over the past and challenges the
future and always retains the secret of its judgment.
De Gollyer, drawing back slowly, allowed him a moment before saying:
"And no alimony!"
"What?"
"Free and no alimony, my boy!"
"No alimony?" said Lightbody, surprised at this new reasoning.
"A woman who runs away gets no alimony," said De Gollyer loudly. "Not
here, not in the effete East!"
"I hadn't thought of that, either," said Lightbody, who, despite
himself, could not repress a smile.
De Gollyer, irritated perhaps that he should have been duped into
sympathy, ran on with a little vindictiveness.
"Of course that means nothing to you, dear boy. You were happy,
_ideally_ happy! You adored her, didn't you?"
He paused and then, receiving no reply, continued:
"But you see, if you hadn't been so devilish lucky, so seraphically
happy all these years, you might find a certain humor in the situation,
mightn't you? Still, look it in the face, what have you lost, what have
you left? There is something in that.
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