That she had been, and probably now was, under Selwyn's protection he
believed; what she and Selwyn intended to do he did not know. But he
wanted to know; he dared not ask Selwyn--dared not, because he was
horribly afraid of Selwyn; dared not yet make a legal issue of their
relations, of her sequestration, or of her probable continued infirmity,
because of his physical fear of the man.
But there was--or he thought that there had been--one way to begin the
matter, because the matter must sooner or later be begun: and that was
to pretend to assume Neergard responsible; and, on the strength of his
wife's summer sojourn aboard the _Niobrara_, turn on Neergard and demand
a reckoning which he believed Selwyn would never hear of, because he did
not suppose Neergard dared defend the suit, and would sooner or later
compromise. Which would give him what he wanted to begin with, money,
and the entering wedge against the wife he meant to be rid of in one way
or another, even if he had to swear out a warrant against Selwyn before
he demanded a commission to investigate her mental condition.
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