CHAPTER XXII

GETTING ACQUAINTED


Her opportunity definitely to begin her campaign to lift him up
out of politics finally came. She had been doing something in that
direction almost every day. She must be careful not to alarm his
vanity of being absolute master of his own destiny. The idea of
leaving politics and practising law in New York, must seem to
originate and to grow in his own brain; she would seem to be
merely assenting. Also, it was a delicate matter because the basic
reason for the change was money; and it was her cue as a lady,
refined and sensitive and wholly free from sordidness, so to act
that he would think her loftily indifferent to money. She had
learned from dealing with her grandmother that the way to get the
most money was by seeming ignorant of money values, a cover behind
which she could shame Madam Bowker into giving a great deal more
than she would have given on direct and specific demand. For
instance, she could get more from the old lady than could her
mother, who explained just what she wanted the money for and acted
as if the giving were a great favor. No, she must never get with
him on a footing where he could discuss money matters frankly with
her; she must simply make him realize how attractive luxury was,
how necessary it was to her, how confidently she looked to him to
provide it, how blindly, in her ignorance of money and all sordid
matters, she trusted to him to maintain her as a wife such as she