He was moved and happy at once. For the first time in years he felt
himself to be a member of the family of man, a humbly serving brother
in the commonweal of social purpose.

His time of proud, individualistic morality was over: the
ever-blessing institution of the family was about to gather him to its
hospitable bosom.

To be sure, his wonted scepticism was not utterly silenced. But he
drove it away with a feeling of delighted comfort. He could have
shouted a blessing to the married couples in search of air, he could
have given a word of fatherly advice to the couples on the benches:
"Children, commit no indiscretions--marry!"

And when he thought of her! A mild and peaceable tenderness of which
he had never thought himself capable welled up from his and heart....
Wide gardens of Paradise seemed to open, gardens with secret grottos
and shady corners. And upon one of the palm-trees there sat
Joko--amiable beast--and said: "Rrricharrrd!"

He went over the coming scene in his imagination again and again: Her
little cry of panic when he would enter the dark room and then his
whispered reassurance: "It is I, my darling. I have come back to stay
for ever and ever."

And then happiness, gentle and heart-felt.

If a divorce was necessary, the relatives of her husband would
probably succeed in divesting her of most of the property. What did it