She was more than half crying with anger and vexation, but the doctor only laughed at what he termed her groundless fears. Supposing she was a divorced woman, with her first husband living in the same town, what did that matter? He knew of many such instances, and if the people in Rothsay were disposed to slight him at first, he should live it down, for money could accomplish everything. But Josephine was not to be soothed by his words, and bade him mind his business and leave her to herself. It was the first ebullition of temper she had shown toward him; so he received it good-humoredly, and touched her playfully under her chin, and had his way in everything, and took down to dinner a most beautiful and elegantly-dressed woman, who looked as if made for just the place she was occupying at the head of that handsomely appointed table. No one called either that evening, or the next, or the next, and when Sunday came she was really sick with mortification and disappointment, and the doctor went to church without her, and met only cold words from those to whom he tried to talk after service was over. Nobody mentioned his wife, although he spoke of her himself, and said that she was sick, and asked Mrs. Rider to tell her husband to call in the afternoon and see her. Even that ruse failed, for there was no solicitude expressed for the lady’s health, no inquiry as to what ailed her, and the doctor drove home in his handsome carriage, feeling that after all Josephine might be right, and that the people were determined to show their disapprobation. But he meant to live it down, and not let the good fortune he had so coveted turn to ashes on his hands. But living it down was not so easy as he had supposed, and as day after day went by, and no one came to see his grandeur, or paid the least attention to him, his spirits began to flag, and he half-suspected that he had made a mistake in bringing his wife to Rothsay, where the Forrest star was evidently in the ascendant.