Her Infinite Variety by Louis Auchincloss, Louis S. Auchincloss

what the source of his attraction was. And he was still, at thirty-three, a bachelor. What she might do about this, what she
could
do about this ... but she had no plans and needed none. The present was just fine, tinged with a pleasant sense that she had at last started something.
    He surprised her, however, by saying that he would like to meet her husband, and despite a full program, he made a point of dropping by her apartment one evening for a cocktail with Trevor. The latter was at his most attractive; they discussed different ways of financing a proposed bridge over the Narrows, going into details that left the ignorant Clara completely out.
    "What a clear head your husband has," O'Connor remarked, pausing at her desk the next morning. "He's a man we'll have to deal with in the future."
    "You mean he stands in your way?"
    "Unless he finds it to his advantage to join us."
    "That he'll never do. From where he sits, Louis Fourteenth was a Marxist."
    "Don't underestimate him, Clara. That man will go far."
    For some reason she felt put down. "It may interest you to know he doesn't think you have a Chinaman's chance of winning."
    "He's right there."
    "Don't even think it!" She glanced nervously around to be sure no one could hear them. No one could. Rory was never caught out. "Why did you get into this fight if you thought you had no chance?"
    "Because the party picked me to be the standard-bearer. They'll owe me one, so long as I don't make too bad a showing. They don't forget."
    "I see. Everything has its quid pro quo."
    "Everything has to. That's life."
    "Maybe you'll be the one who joins Trevor. Seeing that you admire him so."
    He chuckled. "I seem to have got your goat."
    "Well, yes, you have. It irks me that you seem to value a conservative male a good deal more than you do a liberal female. It puts me in my place, doesn't it? As no doubt it was meant to."
    "Is it overvaluing a conservative male to size him up? He's what we have to face, isn't he? He's the real thing."
    "And not just a silly parlor pink like me, is that it?"
    "Oh, you're not really anything quite yet, my friend. But that isn't saying you won't be. Not by a long shot. And don't worry. I'm not about to join your handsome spouse."
    ***
    O'Connor lost the election, to nobody's surprise, but he did better than expected, and he was by no means as despondent as the sad troop of his dispirited workers in the shabby crowded old hotel ballroom where he made his midnight concession of defeat. On his way to a private room where friends and relatives were waiting with drinks, he spotted Clara and went over to her.
    "Come and imbibe with us," he invited her.
    "Thanks, but I'm due home."
    "To hear your husband crow?"
    "Oh, he'd never do that."
    "Then tell him something from me. Tell him you're coming to work for me. On the
Morning Star.
"
    "Really? What'll I be? Editor in chief?"
    "How about starting as a cub reporter?"
    "Do you mean it?"
    "Have I ever said anything I didn't mean? Even in the heat of the campaign?"
    And he strode on, followed by his little crowd.
    Clara knew that she should wait until the morrow before putting this new proposition to her husband, that she should wait until she had had a chance to discuss the matter coolly with her proposed new boss and find out exactly what the job entailed. But she was too excited for that; she wanted to embark upon a new life that very night, even when she found Trevor at home waiting up for her, at two in the morning and obviously the worse for the consumption of several scotches.
    "Your man conceded at midnight," he observed sourly. "What have you been doing? Holding a wake?"
    "Oh, Trevor, listen to me! I've got the most wonderful opportunity!"
    And she told him about the
Morning Star.
    For almost the first time in their marriage he really blew up. "That
rag!
Are you out of your mind? Do you realize that's the red sheet that dragged my poor father over the coals five years ago? That accused him of tax fraud and