Married Part 36

He knocked.

"Is that you, Louise?" asked a voice from inside.

"No, it's only I," he whispered, hardly able to speak.

"What's the matter? What do you want?"

"I want to speak to you, Helena," he answered, hardly knowing what he was saying.

The key turned in the lock. Albert could hardly trust his ears. The door flew open. Helena stood on the threshold, still fully dressed.

"What is it you want?" she asked. Then she noticed that he was in his dressing-gown and that his eyes shone strangely.

She stretched out her hand, pushed him away and slammed the door.

He heard a thud on the floor and almost simultaneously loud sobs.

Furious, but abashed, he returned to his room. She was in earnest, then! But this was certainly anything but normal.

He lay awake all night, brooding, and on the following morning he breakfasted alone.

When he came home for lunch, Helena received him with an expression of pained resignation.

"Why do you treat me like that?" she asked.

He apologised, with as few words as possible. Then he repented his curtness and climbed down.

Thus matters stood for six months. He was tossed between doubt, rage and love, but his chain held.

His face grew pale and his eyes lost their l.u.s.tre. His temper had become uncertain; a sullen fury smouldered beneath his outward calm.

Helena found him changed, despotic, because he was beginning to oppose her, and often left the meetings to seek amus.e.m.e.nt elsewhere.

One day he was asked to become a candidate for a professorial chair.

He refused, believing that he had no chance, but Helena gave him no peace until he complied with the conditions. He was elected. He never knew the reason why, but Helena did.

A short time after there was a by-election.

The new professor, who had never dreamed of taking an active interest in public affairs, was nonplussed when he found himself nominated. His surprise was even greater when he was elected. He intended to decline, but Helena's entreaties and her argument that life in a big city was preferable to an existence in a small provincial town induced him to accept the mandate.

They removed to Stockholm.

During these six months the newly-made professor and member of Parliament had made himself acquainted with the new ideas which came from England and purposed to recreate society and the old standards of morality. At the same time he felt that the moment was not far off when he would have to break with his "boarder." He recovered his strength and vigour in Stockholm, where fearless thinkers encouraged him to profess openly the views which he had long held in secret.

Helena, on the other hand, scented a favourable opportunity in the counter-current and threw herself into the arms of the Church Party.

This was too much for Albert and he rebelled. His love had grown cold; he found compensation elsewhere. He didn't consider himself unfaithful to his wife for she had never claimed constancy in a relationship which didn't exist.

His friendly intercourse with the other s.e.x aroused his manliness and made him realise his degradation.

His growing estrangement did not escape Helena. Their home-life became unpleasant and every moment threatened to bring a catastrophe.

The opening of Parliament was imminent. Helena became restless and seemed to have changed her tactics. Her voice was more gentle and she appeared anxious to please him. She looked after the servants and saw that the meals were served punctually.

He grew suspicious and wondered, watched her movements and prepared for coming events.

One morning, at breakfast, Helena looked embarra.s.sed and self-conscious.

She played with her dinner napkin and cleared her throat several times.

Then she took her courage in both her hands and made a plunge.

"Albert," she began, "I can count on you, can't I? You will serve the Cause to which I have devoted my life?"

"What cause is that?" he asked curtly, for now he had the upper hand.

"You will do something for the oppressed women, won't you?"

"Where are the oppressed women?"

"What? Have you deserted our great cause? Are you leaving us in the lurch?"

"What cause are you talking about?"

"The Women's Cause!"

"I know nothing about it."

"You know nothing about it? Oh, come! You must admit that the position of the women of the lower cla.s.ses is deplorable."

"No, I can't see that their position is any worse than the position of the men. Deliver the men from their exploiters and the women too will be free."

"But the unfortunates who have to sell themselves, and the scoundrels who--"

"The scoundrels who pay! Has ever a man taken payment for a pleasure which both enjoy?"

"That is not the question! The question is whether it is just that the law of the land should punish the one and let the other go scotfree."

"There is no injustice in that. The one has degraded herself until she has become a source of infection, and therefore the State treats her as it treats a mad dog. Whenever you find a man, degraded to that degree, well, put him under police control, too. Oh, you pure angels, who despise men and look upon them as unclean beasts!..."

"Well, what is it? What do you want me to do?"

He noticed that she had taken a ma.n.u.script from the sideboard and held it in her hand. Without waiting for a reply, he took it from her and began to examine it. "A bill to be introduced into Parliament! I'm to be the man of straw who introduces it! Is that moral? Strictly speaking, is it honest?"

Helena rose from her chair, threw herself on the sofa and burst into tears.

He, too, rose and went to her. He took her hand in his and felt her pulse, afraid lest her attack might be serious. She seized his hand convulsively, and pressed it against her bosom.

"Don't leave me," she sobbed, "don't go. Stay, and let me keep faith in you."

For the first time in his life he saw her giving way to her emotions.