CHAPTER VII
More than two decades had passed since Preston Cheney followed the
dictates of his ambition and married Mabel Lawrence.
Many of his early hopes and desires had been realised during these
years. He had attained to high political positions; and honour and
wealth were his to enjoy. Yet Senator Cheney, as he was now known,
was far from a happy man. Disappointment was written in every
lineament of his face, restlessness and discontent spoke in his every
movement, and at times the spirit of despair seemed to look from the
depths of his eyes.
To a man of any nobility of nature, there can be small satisfaction
in honours which he knows are bought with money and bribes; and to
the proud young American there was the additional sting of knowing
that even the money by which his honours were purchased was not his
own.
It was the second Mrs Lawrence (still designated as the "Baroness" by
her stepdaughter and by old acquaintances) to whom Preston owed the
constant reminder of his dependence upon the purse of his father-in-
law. In those subtle, occult ways known only to a jealous and
designing nature, the Baroness found it possible to make Preston's
life a torture, without revealing her weapons of warfare to her
husband; indeed, without allowing him to even smell the powder, while
she still kept up a constant small fire upon the helpless enemy.
Pages:
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58