When Mr. Pontellier learned of his wife's intention to abandon her home
and take up her residence elsewhere, he immediately wrote her a letter
of unqualified disapproval and remonstrance. She had given reasons which
he was unwilling to acknowledge as adequate. He hoped she had not acted
upon her rash impulse; and he begged her to consider first, foremost,
and above all else, what people would say. He was not dreaming of
scandal when he uttered this warning; that was a thing which would never
have entered into his mind to consider in connection with his wife's
name or his own. He was simply thinking of his financial integrity. It
might get noised about that the Pontelliers had met with reverses, and
were forced to conduct their menage on a humbler scale than heretofore.
It might do incalculable mischief to his business prospects.
But remembering Edna's whimsical turn of mind of late, and foreseeing
that she had immediately acted upon her impetuous determination, he
grasped the situation with his usual promptness and handled it with his
well-known business tact and cleverness.
The same mail which brought to Edna his letter of disapproval carried
instructions--the most minute instructions--to a well-known architect
concerning the remodeling of his home, changes which he had long
contemplated, and which he desired carried forward during his temporary
absence.
Expert and reliable packers and movers were engaged to convey the
furniture, carpets, pictures--everything movable, in short--to places
of security. And in an incredibly short time the Pontellier house
was turned over to the artisans. There was to be an addition--a small
snuggery; there was to be frescoing, and hardwood flooring was to be put
into such rooms as had not yet been subjected to this improvement.
Furthermore, in one of the daily papers appeared a brief notice to the
effect that Mr. and Mrs. Pontellier were contemplating a summer sojourn
abroad, and that their handsome residence on Esplanade Street was
undergoing sumptuous alterations, and would not be ready for occupancy
until their return. Mr. Pontellier had saved appearances!
Edna admired the skill of his maneuver, and avoided any occasion to balk
his intentions. When the situation as set forth by Mr. Pontellier was
accepted and taken for granted, she was apparently satisfied that it
should be so.
The pigeon house pleased her. It at once assumed the intimate character
of a home, while she herself invested it with a charm which it reflected
like a warm glow. There was with her a feeling of having descended in
the social scale, with a corresponding sense of having risen in the
spiritual. Every step which she took toward relieving herself from
obligations added to her strength and expansion as an individual. She
began to look with her own eyes; to see and to apprehend the deeper
undercurrents of life. No longer was she content to "feed upon opinion"
when her own soul had invited her.