“I understand that. This is not a divorce case. I don’t want a divorce—or a separation, either. I want to prevent it.”
“Have your wife’s suspicions ever had any real grounds?”
“None whatever.”
“Or anything that she has misconstrued to be such?”
“Well—once, last winter, I had supper at Rector’s with a young lady who is . . . in the confidence of one of our big railroad men. For business reasons, I wanted to get a line on something he was doing. That sort of thing, you know, is n’t uncommon in Wall Street.”
“And your wife learned of it?”
“Through her brother.”
“You ’re sure it was he?”
“He admitted it. He saw me there. And he told her.”
“There has never been any dissatisfaction about your handling of the estate?”
“Except on my side. I ’ve tripled the
