“Never heard anything to the contrary; but you can’t tell. Something is in the wind. I thought Mrs. Cutter looked pretty shaky this morning. Had a sort of dying gasp in her eye. Pale, noncommittal. Couldn’t get a darn thing out of her about Cutter. But she may be trained that way. Wives of great men often remind us that what’s husband’s business is none of our business,” he laughed. “Cutter’s a sort of cheap great man. How much did she deposit?” lowering his voice. “Fifteen thousand.” “Open account?” The cashier nodded. Arnold whistled. “Show’s Cutter trusts her, anyhow.” “Shows she’s not being guided by her husband’s advice, or she’d never keep that much money idle,” Arnold retorted. As things turned out, however, this was the busiest money in Shannon that autumn. It was spent with amazing swiftness at a time when the war extravagance of our government had already set the pace for reckless spending. A situation frequently develops under our very eyes, and we have no suspicion of it. The fact is, most situations that develop into sensations begin this way. Then we discover that what has happened had been “going on” a long time. Otherwise, I ask you how should we obtain those breathless sensations with which the press and society nourish our groggy minds? It is the unexpected that stirs and animates our greedy, pop-eyed interest in life, especially the other fellow’s life. I will not go so far as to say that Helen acted from design, for she was the least devious or designing woman I ever knew; but she must have counted on the probability that some time must elapse before the breach between Cutter and herself could be suspected in Shannon. His absence would not be significant, because his business interests in New York had kept him away from home most of the time for a year. The war, the violent emotions and the terrific demands it imposed had unsettled all life. People who never left home arose and flew this way and that, like flocks of distracted birds. Old maids with dutiful domestic records, suddenly laid aside their darning gourds and church work and sailed for France, went into canteens and became the honorable mothers of whole regiments. Young girls did likewise, and earned for themselves distinctions that will become a heritage to womankind, all mordant-tongued gossips to the contrary notwithstanding. In Shannon the women worked like bees. If you paid your Red Cross assessments, turned in sweaters and wash rags for the soldiers in France, no further notice was taken of you. Because all womanly interests and affections were centered on these boys in France.