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Chapter 6
Systems of Equations and Inequalities
Section 6.1 2(2)  (1)  4  1  5

1. 3x  4  8  x 5(2)  2(1)  10  2  8
4x  4 Each equation is satisfied, so x  2, y  1 , or
x 1 (2, 1) , is a solution of the system of equations.
The solution set is 1 .
3 x  2 y  2
10. 
2. a. 3x  4 y  12  x  7 y  30
x-intercept: 3x  4  0   12 Substituting the values of the variables:
3x  12 3( 2)  2(4)   6  8  2

x4  ( 2)  7(4)   2  28  30
y-intercept: 3  0   4 y  12 Each equation is satisfied, so x   2, y  4 , or
4 y  12 ( 2, 4) , is a solution of the system of equations.
y3
 3x  4 y  4

11.  1 1
 2 x  3 y   2
Substituting the values of the variables:
 1
 3(2)  4  2   6  2  4
  

 (2)  3  1   1  3   1
1
 2  
2 2 2

b. 3x  4 y  12 Each equation is satisfied, so x  2, y  1 , or


2
4 y  3x  12  
2, 1
2
, is a solution of the system of equations.
3
y   x3
4  2x  1 y  0
 2
3 12. 
A parallel line would have slope  .  3 x  4 y   19
4 2
3. inconsistent Substituting the values of the variables, we obtain:
  1 1
4. consistent; independent  2   2   2  2   1  1  0
  

5. (3, 2) 3   1   4  2    3  8   19
  2  2 2
6. consistent; dependent
Each equation is satisfied, so x   1 , y  2 , or
7. b 2
8. a  
 1 , 2 , is a solution of the system of equations.
2
2 x  y  5
9. 
5 x  2 y  8
Substituting the values of the variables:

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Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.
Section 6.1: Systems of Linear Equations: Substitution and Elimination

 x y  3 3  2   3  2   2  2   6  6  4  4
 
13.  1
2  3  2   2  2  6  2  10
 2 x  y  3 
Substituting the values of the variables, we obtain: 5  2   2  2   3  2   10  4  6  8
Each equation is satisfied, so x  2 , y  2 ,
4  1  3
 z  2 , or (2, 2, 2) is a solution of the system of
1
 2 (4)  1  2  1  3 equations.
Each equation is satisfied, so x  4, y  1 , or
 4x  5z  6
(4, 1) , is a solution of the system of equations. 
18.  5 y  z  17
 x  6 y  5 z  24
 x y  3 
14.  Substituting the values of the variables:
3x  y  1
4  4   5  2   16  10  6
Substituting the values of the variables: 
 2    5   2  5  3 5  3   2   15  2  17
 
3  2    5   6  5  1   4   6  3  5  2   4  18  10  24
Each equation is satisfied, so x   2, y  5 , or Each equation is satisfied, so x  4 , y  3 ,
( 2, 5) , is a solution of the system of equations. z  2 , or (4, 3, 2) , is a solution of the system
of equations.
 3x  3 y  2 z  4
 x  y  8
15.  x  y  z  0 19. 
 2 y  3z  8 x  y  4

Solve the first equation for y, substitute into the
Substituting the values of the variables: second equation and solve:
 3(1)  3(1)  2(2)  3  3  4  4 y  8 x
 
1  (1)  2  1  1  2  0 x  y  4
 2( 1)  3(2)  2  6  8
 x  (8  x)  4
Each equation is satisfied, so x  1, y  1, z  2 , x 8 x  4
or (1, 1, 2) , is a solution of the system of 2 x  12
equations. x6
Since x  6, y  8  6  2 . The solution of the
 4x z 7
 system is x  6, y  2 or using ordered pairs
16.  8 x  5 y  z  0
 x  y  5 z  6 (6, 2) .

Substituting the values of the variables:
 4  2 1  8 1  7

8  2   5  3  1  16  15  1  0

2   3  5 1  2  3  5  6
Each equation is satisfied, so x  2 , y  3 ,
z  1 , or (2, 3, 1) , is a solution of the system of
equations.

3x  3 y  2 z  4

17.  x  3 y  z  10
5 x  2 y  3 z  8

Substituting the values of the variables:
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Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 6: Systems of Equations and Inequalities

 x  2 y  7
20. 
 x  y  3
Solve the first equation for x, substitute into the
second equation and solve:
 x  7  2 y

 x  y  3
(7  2 y )  y  3
7  y  3
4  y
Since y  4, x  7  2(4)  1 . The solution
 x  3y  5
of the system is x  1, y  4 or using an 22. 
2 x  3 y   8
ordered pair, (1,  4) .
Add the equations:
 x  3 y  5
2 x  3 y   8

3x  3
x  1
Substitute and solve for y:
1  3 y  5
3y  6
y2
The solution of the system is x  1, y  2 or
using ordered pairs (1, 2) .

5 x  y  21
21. 
2 x  3 y  12
Multiply each side of the first equation by 3 and
add the equations to eliminate y:
15 x  3 y  63
 2 x  3 y  12

17 x  51
x3
Substitute and solve for y:
5(3)  y  21
15  y  21
y  6
y  6
The solution of the system is x  3, y  6 or
using ordered an pair  3, 6  .

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Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.
Section 6.1: Systems of Linear Equations: Substitution and Elimination

3x  24
23. 
 x  2 y  0
Solve the first equation for x and substitute into
the second equation:
 x8

x  2 y  0
8  2y  0
2y  8
y  4
The solution of the system is x  8, y   4 or
using ordered pairs (8, 4)

3x  6 y  2
25. 
5 x  4 y  1
Multiply each side of the first equation by 2 and
each side of the second equation by 3, then add
to eliminate y:
 6 x  12 y  4

15 x  12 y  3
21x 7
1
x
3
Substitute and solve for y:
4 x  5 y   3 3 1/ 3  6 y  2
24.  1 6y  2
  2y  8
Solve the second equation for y and substitute 6y  1
into the first equation: 1
y
4 x  5 y   3 6

 y4 1 1
The solution of the system is x  , y   or
3 6
4 x  5(4)  3
1 1
4 x  20  3 using ordered pairs  ,   .
3 6
4 x  23
23
x
4
23
The solution of the system is x   , y  4 or
4
 23 
using ordered pairs   , 4  .
 4 

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Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 6: Systems of Equations and Inequalities

 2
2 x  4 y 
26.  3
3x  5 y  10
Multiply each side of the first equation by 5 and
each side of the second equation by 4, then add
to eliminate y:
 10
10 x  20 y 
 3
12 x  20 y  40

110
22 x 
3
5
x
3
Substitute and solve for y:  x y 5
3  5 / 3  5 y  10 28. 
3x  3 y  2
5  5 y  10 Solve the first equation for x, substitute into the
 5 y  5 second equation and solve:
y 1 x  y  5

5 3x  3 y  2
The solution of the system is x   , y  1 or
3 3( y  5)  3 y  2
 5  3 y  15  3 y  2
using ordered pairs   , 1 .
 3  0  17
This equation is false, so the system is inconsistent.

 2x  y  1
27. 
4 x  2 y  3
Solve the first equation for y, substitute into the
second equation and solve:
 y  1 2x

4 x  2 y  3
4 x  2(1  2 x)  3
4x  2  4x  3
0 1
This equation is false, so the system is inconsistent.

668
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.
Section 6.1: Systems of Linear Equations: Substitution and Elimination

2 x  y  0 The solution of the system is x  1, y  


4
or
29. 
4 x  2 y  12 3
Solve the first equation for y, substitute into the  4
using ordered pairs 1,   .
second equation and solve:  3
 y  2x

4 x  2 y  12
4 x  2(2 x)  12
4 x  4 x  12
8 x  12
3
x
2
3 3
Since x  , y  2    3
2 2
3  x  2y  4
The solution of the system is x  , y  3 or 31. 
2 2 x  4 y  8
3  Solve the first equation for x, substitute into the
using ordered pairs  ,3  .
2  second equation and solve:
x  4  2 y

2 x  4 y  8
2(4  2 y )  4 y  8
8  4y  4y  8
00
These equations are dependent. The solution of the
system is either x  4  2 y , where y is any real
4 x
number or y  , where x is any real number.
2
Using ordered pairs, we write the solution as
( x, y) x  4  2 y, y is any real number or as
 4 x 
3 x  3 y  1  ( x, y ) y  , x is any real number  .
  2 
30.  8
 4 x  y  3
 3x  y  7
Solve the second equation for y, substitute into 32. 
the first equation and solve: 9 x  3 y  21
Solve the first equation for y, substitute into the
3x  3 y  1 second equation and solve:

 8
 y  3x  7
 y  3  4 x 
9 x  3 y  21
8 
3x  3   4 x   1 9 x  3(3x  7)  21
3 
9 x  9 x  21  21
3x  8  12 x  1
9 x  9 00
x 1 These equations are dependent. The solution of the
system is either y  3 x  7 , where x is any real
8 8 4
Since x  1, y   4(1)   4   . y7
3 3 3 number is x  , where y is any real number.
3
Using ordered pairs, we write the solution as

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Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 6: Systems of Equations and Inequalities

( x, y) y  3x  7, x is any real number or as 2 x  3 y  6



 y7   1
 ( x, y ) x  , y is any real number  .  x  y  2
 3 
 1
2 y    3y  6
 2 x  3 y  1  2
33.  2y 1 3y  6
10 x  y  11
Multiply each side of the first equation by –5, 5y  5
and add the equations to eliminate x: y 1
10 x  15 y  5 1 3
 10 x  y  11 Since y  1, x  1   . The solution of the
 2 2
16 y  16 3
system is x  , y  1 or using ordered pairs
y 1 2
Substitute and solve for x:  3 
 , 1 .
2 x  3(1)  1 2 
2 x  3  1
1
2x  2  x  y  2
36.  2
x 1  x  2 y  8
The solution of the system is x  1, y  1 or
Solve the second equation for x, substitute into
using ordered pairs (1, 1). the first equation and solve:
1
 3x  2 y  0  x  y  2
34.  2
5 x  10 y  4  x  2 y  8
Multiply each side of the first equation by 5, and
add the equations to eliminate y: 1
(2 y  8)  y   2
15 x  10 y  0 2
 5 x  10 y  4 y  4 y  2

2y  6
20 x 4
y  3
1
x Since y  3, x  2(3)  8   6  8  2 . The
5
Substitute and solve for y: solution of the system is x  2, y  3 or using
5 1/ 5   10 y  4 ordered pairs (2, 3) .
1  10 y  4
1 1
10 y  3  2 x  3 y  3
3 37. 
y  1 x  2 y  1
10  4 3
1 3 Multiply each side of the first equation by –6 and
The solution of the system is x  , y  or
5 10 each side of the second equation by 12, then add
1 3  to eliminate x:
using ordered pairs  ,  .
 5 10  3 x  2 y  18
 3x  8 y  12

2 x  3 y  6  10 y  30

35.  1 y 3
 x  y  2
Solve the second equation for x, substitute into
the first equation and solve:

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Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.
Section 6.1: Systems of Linear Equations: Substitution and Elimination

Substitute and solve for x: 4 1


1 1 The solution of the system is x  , y  or
x  (3)  3 3 5
2 3 4 1
1 using ordered pairs  ,  .
x 1  3  3 5
2
1
x2 2 x  y   1
2 
40.  1 3
x4  x  2 y  2
The solution of the system is x  4, y  3 or
using ordered pairs (4, 3). Multiply each side of the second equation by 2,
and add the equations to eliminate y:
1 3 2 x  y  1
 3 x  2 y  5 2 x  y  3
38.  
 3 x  1 y  11 4x  2
 4 3 1
Multiply each side of the first equation by –54 x
2
and each side of the second equation by 24, then
add to eliminate x: 1
Substitute and solve for y: 2    y  1
18 x  81 y  270 2
 18 x  8 y  264 1  y  1

89 y  534 y  2
y 6 y2
1
Substitute and solve for x: The solution of the system is x  , y  2 or
2
3 1
x  (6)  11 1 
4 3 using ordered pairs  , 2  .
3 2 
x  2  11
4
1 1
x  y  8
3
x9 
4 41. 
x  12 3  5  0
The solution of the system is x  12, y  6 or  x y
using ordered pairs (12, 6). 1 1
Rewrite letting u  , v :
x y
 3x  5 y  3
39.   u v8
15 x  5 y  21 
Add the equations to eliminate y: 3u  5v  0
Solve the first equation for u, substitute into the
 3 x  5 y  3
 second equation and solve:
15 x  5 y  21 u  8  v
18 x  24 
3u  5v  0
4
x 3(8  v)  5v  0
3
Substitute and solve for y: 24  3v  5v  0
3  4 / 3  5 y  3 8v  24
4  5y  3 v3
5 y  1 1 1
Since v  3, u  8  3  5 . Thus, x   ,
1 u 5
y
5

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Chapter 6: Systems of Equations and Inequalities

1 1 2 y  3z   4
y  . The solution of the system is
v 3 2y  z  4
1 1 1 1 4z  0
x  , y  or using ordered pairs  ,  .
5 3 5 3 z0
Substituting and solving for the other variables:
4 3 2y  0  4 2 x  3(0)  16
x  y  0
 2y  4 2 x  16
42. 
6  3  2 y2 x 8
 x 2 y
The solution is x  8, y  2, z  0 or using
1 1 ordered triples (8, 2, 0).
Rewrite letting u  , v :
x y
4u  3v  0  2x  y   4
 
 3 44.  2 y  4 z  0
6u  2 v  2  3 x  2 z  11

Multiply each side of the second equation by 2, Multiply each side of the first equation by 2 and
and add the equations to eliminate v: add to the second equation to eliminate y:
 4u  3v  0 4x  2 y  8

12u  3v  4  2 y  4z  0
16u 4 4x  4z   8
4 1 1
u  Multiply each side of the result by and add to
16 4 2
Substitute and solve for v: the original third equation to eliminate z:
1 2x  2z   4
4    3v  0
4 3x  2 z  11
1  3v  0 5x  15
3v  1 x  3
1 Substituting and solving for the other variables:
v
3 2(3)  y   4 3(3)  2 z  11
1 1 6  y  4 9  2 z  11
Thus, x   4, y   3 . The solution of the
u v y2  2z   2
system is x  4, y  3 or using ordered pairs z 1
(4, 3). The solution is x  3, y  2, z  1 or using
ordered triples (3, 2, 1) .
 x y  6

43.  2 x  3 z  16
 x  2 y  3z  7
2 y  z  4 
 45.  2 x  y  z  4
Multiply each side of the first equation by –2 and 3x  2 y  2 z  10
add to the second equation to eliminate x: Multiply each side of the first equation by –2 and
2 x  2 y  12 add to the second equation to eliminate x; and
2x  3 z  16 multiply each side of the first equation by 3 and
2 y  3z  4 add to the third equation to eliminate x:
2 x  4 y  6 z  14
Multiply each side of the result by –1 and add to
the original third equation to eliminate y: 2x  y  z  4
5 y  5 z   10

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Section 6.1: Systems of Linear Equations: Substitution and Elimination

3x  6 y  9 z  21 Substituting and solving for the other variables:


3x  2 y  2 z  10  35 
 6 x  7    7
 4 y  7 z  11  13 
245
4  6x   7
Multiply each side of the first result by and 13
5 336
add to the second result to eliminate y:  6x  
13
4 y  4 z  8
56
4 y  7 z  11 x
13
3z  3
z 1  56   35 
2    y  3   0
Substituting and solving for the other variables:  13   13 
112 105
x  2(1)  3(1)  7  y 0
y 1   2 13 13
x23 7
y  1 7
x2 y
13
The solution is x  2, y  1, z  1 or using
56 7 35
ordered triples (2, 1, 1) . The solution is x  , y , z or
13 13 13
 56 7 35 
 2 x  y  3z  0 using ordered triples  ,  ,  .
  13 13 13 
46.  2 x  2 y  z  7
 3x  4 y  3z  7
  x  y  z 1
Multiply each side of the first equation by –2 and 
47. 2 x  3 y  z  2
add to the second equation to eliminate y; and  3x  2 y
 0
multiply each side of the first equation by 4 and
add to the third equation to eliminate y: Add the first and second equations to eliminate z:
4 x  2 y  6 z  0 x  y  z 1
 2 x  2 y  z  7 2x  3y  z  2
 6x  7z   7 3x  2 y 3
Multiply each side of the result by –1 and add to
8 x  4 y  12 z  0
the original third equation to eliminate y:
3x  4 y  3z  7 3x  2 y  3
11x  15 z  7 3x  2 y  0
Multiply each side of the first result by 11 and 0  3
multiply each side of the second result by 6 to This equation is false, so the system is inconsistent.
eliminate x:
66 x  77 z  77  2x  3y  z  0

66 x  90 z  42 48.  x  2 y  z  5
13z  35  3x  4 y  z  1

35 Add the first and second equations to eliminate
z
13 z; then add the second and third equations to
eliminate z:
2x  3y  z  0
x  2 y  z  5
x y 5

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Chapter 6: Systems of Equations and Inequalities

x  2 y  z  5 eliminate z:
3x  4 y  z  1 4x  6 y  2z  0
3x  2 y  2 z  2
2x  2 y 6
7x  4y 2
Multiply each side of the first result by –2 and add
to the second result to eliminate y: 6 x  9 y  3z  0
2 x  2 y  10 x  5 y  3z  2
2x  2 y  6 7x  4y 2
0  2
Multiply each side of the first result by –1 and
This equation is false, so the system is inconsistent.
add to the second result to eliminate y:
7 x  4 y   2
 x y z  1
 7x  4y  2
49.  x  2 y  3 z   4
 3x  2 y  7 z  0 0 0

Add the first and second equations to eliminate The system is dependent. If y is any real
x; multiply the first equation by –3 and add to 4 2
the third equation to eliminate x: number, then x  y .
7 7
x y z  1 Solving for z in terms of x in the first equation:
 x  2 y  3z   4 z  2x  3y
y  4z   3  4y  2 
 2   3y
 7 
3x  3 y  3 z  3 8 y  4  21 y

3x  2 y  7 z  0 7
13 y  4
y  4 z  3 
7
Multiply each side of the first result by –1 and  4 2
add to the second result to eliminate y: The solution is ( x, y, z ) x  y  ,
 7 7
 y  4z  3
y  4 z  3
13 4 
z   y  , y is any real number  .
7 7 
0 0
The system is dependent. If z is any real  2 x  2 y  3z  6
number, then y  4 z  3 . 
51.  4 x  3 y  2 z  0
Solving for x in terms of z in the first equation:  2 x  3 y  7 z  1
x  (4 z  3)  z  1 
x  4z  3  z  1 Multiply the first equation by –2 and add to the
second equation to eliminate x; add the first and
x  5z  3  1 third equations to eliminate x:
x  5z  2 4 x  4 y  6 z  12
The solution is {( x, y , z ) x  5 z  2, y  4 z  3 , 4x  3 y  2z  0
z is any real number}. y  4 z  12

 2x  3y  z  0 2 x  2 y  3z  6
  2x  3y  7z  1
50. 3x  2 y  2 z  2
 x  5 y  3z  2 y  4z  7

Multiply the first equation by 2 and add to the Multiply each side of the first result by –1 and
second equation to eliminate z; multiply the first add to the second result to eliminate y:
equation by 3 and add to the third equation to

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Section 6.1: Systems of Linear Equations: Substitution and Elimination

 y  4 z  12 4(1)  y  1 3(1)  2(3)  z  5


y4z  7  y  3 3  6  z  5
0  19 y3 z  2
This result is false, so the system is inconsistent. The solution is x  1, y  3, z   2 or using
ordered triplets (1, 3, 2) .
3x  2 y  2 z  6

52. 7 x  3 y  2 z  1  x  y  z  4
2 x  3 y  4 z  0 
 54.  2 x  3 y  4 z  15
Multiply the first equation by –1 and add to the 5 x  y  2 z  12
second equation to eliminate z; multiply the first Multiply the first equation by –3 and add to the
equation by –2 and add to the third equation to second equation to eliminate y; add the first and
eliminate z: third equations to eliminate y:
3x  2 y  2 z   6 3x  3 y  3z  12
7 x  3 y  2z  1 2 x  3 y  4 z  15
4x  y  7 x  z  3
z  x 3
6 x  4 y  4 z  12
x  y  z  4
2x  3y  4z  0
5 x  y  2 z  12
4 x  y  12 6x  z 8
Add the first result to the second result to Substitute and solve:
eliminate y: 6 x  ( x  3)  8
4x  y   7
6x  x  3  8
 4 x  y  12 5x  5
0  19 x 1
This result is false, so the system is inconsistent. z  x  3  1 3   2
y  12  5 x  2 z  12  5(1)  2( 2)  3
 x y z  6
 The solution is x  1, y  3, z   2 or using
53. 3 x  2 y  z  5
 x  3 y  2 z  14 ordered triplets (1, 3, 2) .

Add the first and second equations to eliminate  x  2 y  z  3

z; multiply the second equation by 2 and add to 55.  2 x  4 y  z  7
the third equation to eliminate z:  2 x  2 y  3z  4
x y z  6
Add the first and second equations to eliminate
3x  2 y  z  5 z; multiply the second equation by 3 and add to
4x  y  1 the third equation to eliminate z:
x  2y  z   3
6 x  4 y  2 z  10 2x  4 y  z   7
x  3 y  2 z  14 3x  2 y  10
7x  y  4 6 x  12 y  3z   21
Multiply each side of the first result by –1 and  2 x  2 y  3z  4
add to the second result to eliminate y: 4 x  10 y   17
4 x  y  1
7x  y  4 Multiply each side of the first result by –5 and
add to the second result to eliminate y:
3x  3 15 x  10 y  50
x 1 4 x  10 y  17
Substituting and solving for the other variables:

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Chapter 6: Systems of Equations and Inequalities

11x  33  8
3      6z  1
x 3  3
Substituting and solving for the other variables: 2
3(3)  2 y  10 6z 
3
 9  2 y  10 1
 2 y  1 z
9
1 8 1
y The solution is x  3, y   , z  or using
2 3 9
1  8 1
3  2    z  3 ordered triplets  3,  ,  .
2  3 9
3  1  z  3
57. Let l be the length of the rectangle and w be
 z  1 the width of the rectangle. Then:
z 1 l  2w and 2l  2w  90
1 Solve by substitution:
The solution is x  3, y  , z  1 or using
2 2(2 w)  2w  90
 1  4 w  2w  90
ordered triplets  3, , 1 .
 2 
6w  90
 x  4 y  3z   8 w  15 feet
 l  2(15)  30 feet
56. 3x  y  3 z  12
 x  y  6z  1 The floor is 15 feet by 30 feet.

Add the first and second equations to eliminate 58. Let l be the length of the rectangle and w be
z; multiply the first equation by 2 and add to the
the width of the rectangle. Then:
third equation to eliminate z:
x  4 y  3z   8 l  w  50 and 2l  2w  3000
3x  y  3z  12 Solve by substitution:
2( w  50)  2w  3000
4x  3 y  4
2 w  100  2w  3000
2 x  8 y  6 z   16 4w  2900
x  y  6z  1 w  725 meters
3x  9 y  15 l  725  50  775 meters
Multiply each side of the second result by 1/ 3 The dimensions of the field are 775 meters by
and add to the first result to eliminate y: 725 meters.
4x  3y  4
59. Let x = the number of commercial launches and
x  3y  5 y = the number of noncommercial launches.
3x 9 Then: x  y  85 and y  3 x  1
x3 Solve by substitution:
Substituting and solving for the other variables: x  (3 x  1)  85 y  3(21)  1
3  3 y  5
4 x  84 y  63  1
3y  8
x  21 y  64
8
y In 2016 there were 21 commercial launches and 64
3 noncommercial launches.

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Section 6.1: Systems of Linear Equations: Substitution and Elimination

60. Let x = the number of adult tickets sold and 63. Let s = the price of a smartphone and t = the
y = the number of senior tickets sold. Then: price of a tablet. Then:
 x  y  325  s  t  1365
 
 340 s  250t  379500
9 x  7 y  2495
Solve the first equation for y: y  325  x Solve the first equation for t: t  1365  s
Solve by substitution: Solve by substitution:
9 x  7(325  x)  2495 340 s  250(1365  s )  379500
9 x  2275  7 x  2495 340 s  341250  250 s  379500
2 x  220 90 s  38250
x  110 s  425
y  325  110  215 t  1365  425  940
The price of the smartphone is $425.00 and the
There were 110 adult tickets sold and 215 senior price of the tablet is $940.00.
citizen tickets sold.
64. Let x = the amount invested in AA bonds.
61. Let x = the number of pounds of cashews.
Let y = the amount invested in the Bank
Let y = is the number of pounds in the mixture.
The value of the cashews is 5 x . Certificate.
The value of the peanuts is 1.50(30) = 45. a. Then x  y  300, 000 represents the total
The value of the mixture is 3 y . investment.
Then x  30  y represents the amount of mixture. 0.05 x  0.025 y  12, 000 represents the
5 x  45  3 y represents the value of the mixture. earnings on the investment.
Solve by substitution:
Solve by substitution: 0.05(300, 000  y )  0.025 y  12, 000
5 x  45  3( x  30)
15, 000  0.05 y  0.025 y  12, 000
2 x  45
 0.025 y  3000
x  22.5
y  120, 000
So, 22.5 pounds of cashews should be used in
the mixture. x  300, 000  120, 000  180, 000
Thus, $180,000 should be invested in AA
62. Let x = the number of liters of 30% solution and bonds and $120,000 in a Bank Certificate.
y = the number liters of 65% solution. Then:
b. Then x  y  300, 000 represents the total
 x  y  14
 investment.
 0.30 x  0.65 y  0.40(14) 0.05 x  0.025 y  14, 000 represents the
Solve the first equation for y: y  14  x earnings on the investment.
Solve by substitution:
Solve by substitution:
0.30 x  0.65(14  x)  5.6
0.05(300, 000  y )  0.025 y  14, 000
0.3x  9.1  0.65 x  5.6
15, 000  0.05 y  0.025 y  14, 000
0.35 x  3.5
 0.025 y  1000
x  10
y  40, 000
y  14  10  4
x  300, 000  40, 000  260, 000
The chemist needs 10 liters of the 30% solution
Thus, $260,000 should be invested in AA
and 4 liters of the 65% solution.
bonds and $40,000 in a Bank Certificate.

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Chapter 6: Systems of Equations and Inequalities

65. Let x = the plane’s average airspeed and y = the 25 x  45(200  x )  7400
average wind speed. 25 x  9000  45 x  7400
Rate Time Distance  20 x  1600
With Wind x y 3 600 x  80
Against x y 4 600 y  200  80  120
Thus, 80 sets of the $25 dishes and 120 sets of
 ( x  y )(3)  600 the $45 dishes should be ordered.

( x  y )(4)  600
1 68. Let x = the cost of a hot dog.
Multiply each side of the first equation by , Let y = the cost of a soft drink.
3
Setting up the equations and solving by
1
multiply each side of the second equation by , substitution:
4
10 x  5 y  35.00
and add the result to eliminate y 
x  y  200  7 x  4 y  25.25
x  y  150 10 x  5 y  35.00
2 x  350 2x  y  7
x  175 y  7  2x
175  y  200 7 x  4(7  2 x )  25.25
y  25
7 x  28  8 x  25.25
The average airspeed of the plane is 175 mph,
 x  2.75
and the average wind speed is 25 mph.
x  2.75
66. Let x = the average wind speed and y = the y  7  2(2.75)  1.50
distance. A single hot dog costs $2.75 and a single soft
Rate Time Distance drink costs $1.50.
With Wind 150  x 2 y 69. Let x = the cost per package of bacon.
Against 150  x 3 y Let y = the cost of a carton of eggs.
(150  x)(2)  y Set up a system of equations for the problem:
 3x  2 y  13.45
(150  x)(3)  y 
Solve by substitution: 2 x  3 y  11.45
(150  x)(2)  (150  x)(3) Multiply each side of the first equation by 3 and
each side of the second equation by –2 and solve
300  2 x  450  3x by elimination:
5 x  150 9 x  6 y  40.35
x  30  4 x  6 y  22.90
Thus, the average wind speed is 30 mph.
5x  17.45
67. Let x = the number of $25-design. x  3.49
Let y = the number of $45-design. Substitute and solve for y:
Then x  y = the total number of sets of dishes. 3(3.49)  2 y  13.45
25 x  45 y = the cost of the dishes. 10.47  2 y  13.45
Setting up the equations and solving by 2 y  2.98
substitution: y  1.49
 x  y  200 A package of bacon costs $3.49 and a carton of

25 x  45 y  7400 eggs cost $1.49. The refund for 2 packages of
Solve the first equation for y, the solve by bacon and 2 cartons of eggs will be
substitution: y  200  x 2($3.49) + 2($1.49) = $9.96.

678
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.
Section 6.1: Systems of Linear Equations: Substitution and Elimination

70. Let x = Pamela’s average speed in still water. 72. Let x = the # of units of powder 1.
Let y = the speed of the current. Let y = the # of units of powder 2.
Rate Time Distance Setting up the equations and solving by
substitution:
Downstream x y 3 15
0.2 x  0.4 y  12 vitamin B12
Upstream x y 5 15 
 0.3 x  0.2 y  12 vitamin E
Set up a system of equations for the problem:
3( x  y )  15 Multiplying each equation by 10 yields
 2 x  4 y  120
5( x  y )  15 
1 6 x  4 y  240
Multiply each side of the first equation by ,
3 Subtracting the bottom equation from the top
1 equation yields
multiply each side of the second equation by , 2 x  4 y   6 x  4 y   120  240
5
and add the result to eliminate y: 4 x  120
x y 5 x  30
x y 3 2  30   4 y  120
2x  8 60  4 y  120
x4 4 y  60
4 y  5 60
y  15
y 1 4
Pamela's average speed is 4 miles per hour and So 30 units of powder 1 should be mixed with 15
the speed of the current is 1 mile per hour. units of powder 2.

71. Let x = the # of mg of compound 1. 73. y  ax 2  bx  c


Let y = the # of mg of compound 2. At (–1, 4) the equation becomes:
Setting up the equations and solving by 4  a (–1) 2  b(1)  c
substitution:
4  a bc
0.2 x  0.4 y  40 vitamin C
 At (2, 3) the equation becomes:
 0.3 x  0.2 y  30 vitamin D 3  a(2) 2  b(2)  c
Multiplying each equation by 10 yields 3  4a  2b  c
2 x  4 y  400
 At (0, 1) the equation becomes:
6 x  4 y  600 1  a(0) 2  b(0)  c
Subtracting the bottom equation from the top 1 c
equation yields
The system of equations is:
2 x  4 y   6 x  4 y   400  600
 a bc  4
2 x  6 x  200 
4a  2b  c  3
4 x  200  c1

x  50
Substitute c  1 into the first and second
2  50   4 y  400 equations and simplify:
100  4 y  400 a  b 1  4 4a  2b  1  3
4 y  300 a b 3 4a  2b  2
300 a  b3
y  75
4 Solve the first result for a, substitute into the
So 50 mg of compound 1 should be mixed with second result and solve:
75 mg of compound 2.
679
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 6: Systems of Equations and Inequalities

4(b  3)  2b  2 0.06Y  5000r  240


75. 
4b  12  2b  2 0.06Y  6000r  900
6b  10 Multiply the first equation by 1 , the add the
5 result to the second equation to eliminate Y.
b 0.06Y  5000r  240
3
5 4 0.06Y  6000r  900
a   3
3 3 11000r  660
4 5 r  0.06
The solution is a  , b   , c  1 . The
3 3 Substitute this result into the first equation to
4 2 5 find Y.
equation is y  x  x  1 . 0.06Y  5000(0.06)  240
3 3
0.06Y  300  240
74. y  ax 2  bx  c 0.06Y  540
At (–1, –2) the equation becomes: Y  9000
2  a (1) 2  b(1)  c The equilibrium level of income and interest
rates is $9000 million and 6%.
a  b  c  2
At (1, –4) the equation becomes: 0.05Y  1000r  10
76. 
 4  a(1) 2  b(1)  c 0.05Y  800r  100
a b c  4 Multiply the first equation by 1 , the add the
result to the second equation to eliminate Y.
At (2, 4) the equation becomes: 0.05Y  1000r  10
4  a (2) 2  b(2)  c 0.05Y  800r  100
4a  2b  c  4 1800r  90
The system of equations is: r  0.05
 a  bc  2 Substitute this result into the first equation to
 find Y.
 a bc  –4
4a  2b  c  4 0.05Y  1000(0.05)  10

0.05Y  50  10
Multiply the first equation by –1 and add to the
second equation; multiply the first equation by – 0.05Y  60
1 and add to the third equation to eliminate c: Y  1200
The equilibrium level of income and interest
a  b  c  2 a  b  c  2
 ab c  –4 rates is $1200 million and 5%.
 4a  2b  c  4
3a  3b 6  I 2  I1  I 3
2b  2 
ab  2 77.  5  3I1  5I 2  0
b  1 10  5I  7 I  0
 2 3
Substitute and solve:
Substitute the expression for I 2 into the second
a  (1)  2 c  a  b  4
and third equations and simplify:
a3  3  (1)  4
5  3I1  5( I1  I 3 )  0
 6
8 I1  5I 3  5
The solution is a  3, b  1, c   6 . The
10  5( I1  I 3 )  7 I 3  0
equation is y  3 x 2  x  6
5I1  12 I 3  10
Multiply both sides of the first result by 5 and
multiply both sides of the second result by –8 to
eliminate I1 :

680
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.
Section 6.1: Systems of Linear Equations: Substitution and Elimination

40 I1  25I 3  25 11 6 17


I 3  I1  I 2   
40 I1  96 I 3  80 13 13 13
71I 3  55 11 6 17
The solution is I1  , I 2  , I 3  .
13 13 13
55
I3 
71 79. Let x = the number of orchestra seats.
Substituting and solving for the other variables: Let y = the number of main seats.
 55  Let z = the number of balcony seats.
 8I1  5    5
 71  Since the total number of seats is 500,
275 x  y  z  500 .
 8I1   5
71 Since the total revenue is $64,250 if all seats are
80 sold, 150 x  135 y  110 z  64, 250 .
8 I1  
71 If only half of the orchestra seats are sold, the
10 revenue is $56,750.
I1 
71 1 
So, 150  x  135 y  110 z  56, 750 .
2 
 10  55 65
I2      Thus, we have the following system:
 71  71 71
 x  y  z  500
10 65 55 
The solution is I1  , I 2  , I 3  . 150 x  135 y  110 z  64, 250
71 71 71  75 x  135 y  110 z  56, 750

 I 3  I1  I 2
 Multiply each side of the first equation by –110
78.  8  4 I 3  6 I 2
and add to the second equation to eliminate z;
8I  4  6 I
 1 2 multiply each side of the third equation by –1
Substitute the expression for I 3 into the second and add to the second equation to eliminate z:
equation and simplify: 110 x  110 y  110 z  55, 000
8  4( I1  I 2 )  6 I 2 8I1  4  6 I 2 150 x  135 y  110 z  64, 250
8  4 I1  10 I 2 8I1  6 I 2  4 40x  25 y  9250
4 I1  10 I 2  8
Multiply both sides of the first result by –2 and 150 x  135 y  110 z  64, 250
add to the second result to eliminate I1 : 75 x  135 y  110 z  56, 750
8 I1  20 I 2  16 75 x  7500
8 I1  6 I 2  4 x  100
26 I 2  12 Substituting and solving for the other variables:
40(100)  25 y  9250 100  210  z  500
12 6
I2   4000  25 y  9250 310  z  500
26 13
25 y  5250 z  190
Substituting and solving for the other variables:
6 y  210
4 I1  10    8
 13  There are 100 orchestra seats, 210 main seats,
60 and 190 balcony seats.
4 I1  8
13
44
4 I1 
13
11
I1 
13

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Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 6: Systems of Equations and Inequalities

80. Let x = the number of adult tickets. 480 x  48 y  144 z  1056


Let y = the number of child tickets. 105 x  48 y  39 z  283.5
Let z = the number of senior citizen tickets.
 375 x  105 z   772.5
Since the total number of tickets is 405,
x  y  z  405 . 175 x  80 y  65 z   472.5
Since the total revenue is $3315, 1600 x  80 y  2400 z  7280
11x  6 y  9 z  3315 .
1425 x  2335 z  6807.5
Twice as many children's tickets as adult tickets
are sold. So, y  2 x . Multiply each side of the first result by 19 and
Thus, we have the following system: multiply each side of the second result by 5 to
eliminate x:
 x y  z  405
 7125 x  1995 z  14, 677.5
 11 x  6.50 y  9 z  3315
7125 x  11, 675 z  34, 037.5
 y  2x
 9680 z  19,360
Substitute for y in the first two equations and
z2
simplify:
x  (2 x)  z  405 Substituting and solving for the other variables:
375 x  105(2)  772.5
3 x  z  405
375 x  210  772.5
11x  6.50(2 x)  9 z  3315
375 x  562.5
24 x  9 z  3315
x  1.5
Multiply the first result by –9 and add to the
second result to eliminate z: 30(1.5)  3 y  9(2)  66
 27 x  9 z   3645 45  3 y  18  66
 24 x  9 z  3315 3y  3

3 x   330 y 1
x  110 The dietitian should serve 1.5 servings of
y  2x 3x  z  405 chicken, 1 serving of corn, and 2 servings of 2%
milk.
 2(110) 3(110)  z  405
 220 330  z  405 82. Let x = the amount in Treasury bills.
z  75 Let y = the amount in Treasury bonds.
There were 110 adults, 220 children, and 75 Let z = the amount in corporate bonds.
senior citizens that bought tickets. Since the total investment is $20,000,
x  y  z  20, 000
81. Let x = the number of servings of chicken.
Let y = the number of servings of corn. Since the total income is to be $1390,
Let z = the number of servings of 2% milk. 0.05 x  0.07 y  0.10 z  1390

Protein equation: 30 x  3 y  9 z  66 The investment in Treasury bills is to be $3000


more than the investment in corporate bonds.
Carbohydrate equation: 35 x  16 y  13z  94.5
So, x  3000  z
Calcium equation: 200 x  10 y  300 z  910
Substitute for x in the first two equations and
Multiply each side of the first equation by –16 simplify:
and multiply each side of the second equation by (3000  z )  y  z  20, 000
3 and add them to eliminate y; multiply each side y  2 z  17, 000
of the second equation by –5 and multiply each
side of the third equation by 8 and add to 5(3000  z )  7 y  10 z  139, 000
eliminate y: 7 y  15 z  124, 000

682
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Inc.
Section 6.1: Systems of Linear Equations: Substitution and Elimination

Multiply each side of the first result by –7 and x y z


add to the second result to eliminate y:
2.13 0.89 0.62
7 y  14 z  119, 000
2.10 0.90 0.65
7 y  15 z  124, 000
2.07 0.91 0.68
z  5, 000
2.04 0.92 0.71
x  3000  z  3000  5000  8000
y  2 z  17, 000 2.01 0.93 0.74
y  2(5000)  17, 000 1.98 0.94 0.77
y  10, 000  17, 000 1.95 0.95 0.80
y  7000 1.92 0.96 0.83
Kelly should invest $8000 in Treasury bills, $7000 in 1.89 0.97 0.86
Treasury bonds, and $5000 in corporate bonds.
1.86 0.98 0.89
83. Let x = the price of 1 hamburger.
Let y = the price of 1 order of fries. 84. Let x = the price of 1 hamburger.
Let z = the price of 1 drink. Let y = the price of 1 order of fries.
Let z = the price of 1 drink
We can construct the system
We can construct the system
 8 x  6 y  6 z  26.10
  8 x  6 y  6 z  26.10
10 x  6 y  8 z  31.60 
10 x  6 y  8 z  31.60
A system involving only 2 equations that contain  3 x  2 y  4 z  10.95
3 or more unknowns cannot be solved uniquely.
Subtract the second equation from the first
1
Multiply the first equation by  and the equation to eliminate y:
2 8 x  6 y  6 z  26.10
1 10 x  6 y  8 z  31.60
second equation by , then add to eliminate y:
2  2 x  2 z  5.5
4 x  3 y  3 z  13.05
Multiply the third equation by –3 and add it to
5 x  3 y  4 z  15.80 the second equation to eliminate y:
x  z  2.75 10 x  6 y  8 z  31.60
x  2.75  z 9 x  6 y  12 z  32.85
x  4 z  1.25
Substitute and solve for y in terms of z: Multiply the second result by 2 and add it to the
5  2.75  z   3 y  4 z  15.80 first result to eliminate x:
13.75  3 y  z  15.80 2x  2 z  5.5
3 y  z  2.05 2x  8 z  2.5
1 41 10 z  8
y  z z  0.8
3 60
Solutions of the system are: x  2.75  z , Substitute for z to find the other variables:
1 41 x  4(0.8)  1.25
y  z . x  3.2  1.25
3 60
Since we are given that 0.60  z  0.90 , we x  1.95
choose values of z that give two-decimal-place 3(1.95)  2 y  4(0.8)  10.95
values of x and y with 1.75  x  2.25 and 5.85  2 y  3.2  1.095
0.75  y  1.00 . 2 y  1.9
The possible values of x, y, and z are shown in y  0.95
the table. Therefore, one hamburger costs $1.95, one order
of fries costs $0.95, and one drink costs $0.80.

683
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Mrs. Wingfield breathed hard and opened her lips, but Mrs. Vermilion
was a wiser if a duller woman; she laid a restraining hand on her arm
and propelled her gently but firmly toward the exit.
“You’re coming to my ball next week, Mrs. White?” she ventured with
a propitiating smile.
“Oh, is it next week?” drawled Margaret, with elevated brows, “I
never know. Little Miss English keeps my books; if she didn’t I should
go to the wrong place every night and forget the White House.”
“I thought your memory more accommodating,” Mrs. Wingfield
retaliated pointedly; “I remember when you forgot to come to my
dinner after you’d accepted.”
Margaret laughed. “Did I?” she said, “I’m evidently a sinner. Tell Mr.
Wingfield that I heard who wrote in those corrections in that
paragraph of the message—but I really can’t tell.”
Mrs. Wingfield turned away with a red cheek.
“Margaret!” remonstrated Allestree sharply, as the three women
withdrew, “how can you? Good Lord, talk about the brutality of men!
Women are Malays and North American Indians—you have no
mercy! I’m blushing all over now at the thought of it!”
She laughed, her short, even white teeth set close together, her eyes
sparkling. “Wasn’t I horrid?” she said, “I haven’t any manners and
they hate me.”
“I should think they would!” he replied warmly, “Margaret, why do you
do such things? It isn’t like you, it isn’t—”
“Well bred!” she concluded dryly, “I know it. The other night, too, I did
something that horrified Wicklow. We were dining at Mrs. O’Neal’s; I
knelt, and kissed the cardinal’s ring. Wicklow was wild; he seemed to
have an A. P. A. nightmare at once. It was all in the New York papers
yesterday,” Margaret laughed again, resting her arms on the back of
the carved chair where Rose had sat.
Allestree laid down his brushes; he had been working on a sketch of
Margaret herself, and, lighting a cigarette, he passed his case to her.
She took one mechanically and lit it at his. As the spark flamed up
between them, he caught the hollowness of her eyes, the startling
pallor of her face.
“What in the world is it, Margaret?” he asked sharply; “you’re ill.”
She turned and looked over her shoulder into the mirror. “Do I look
so?” Something she saw in her own image, in the deeply shadowed
eyes, the sharpened curve of the cheeks startled her. “What a fright I
grow to be! No wonder that Vermilion girl stared. What an Aphrodite
she’d make—in French corsets and a trail!” Margaret laughed
silently.
Then catching a look on Allestree’s face which she read too easily.
“Were you born proper, Bobby?” she said, knocking the ashes from
her cigarette, “or did you achieve it, or was it thrust upon you?”
“I can’t paint you in this mood, Margaret,” he said dryly, “you wouldn’t
look like yourself; you’d remind me of a malicious elf.”
She leaned her elbow on the chair back again, resting her chin in the
hollow of her hand. “There!” she said, “I told William Fox that you’d
make me the imp to Rose’s angel.”
“I’d like to make you what you are, a fascinating, wilful woman with
no heart at all!” he retorted.
“No heart!” she laughed, tossing her cigarette away; “that’s true,
Bobby, I’ve no heart!”
As she spoke she moved over to Rose’s portrait which still rested on
an easel in the corner. It was a magnificent piece of work, the artist
had dreamed his heart into it; the young head symbolized youth,
purity, hope. The figure had the simplicity and loveliness of some
beautiful Greek inspiration when the art of Greece was young.
Margaret stood looking at it in silence, herself unaware of the sharp
contrast between the pictured youth and enthusiasm of this girl and
her own slim beauty, her subtly charming and unhappy face, which
seemed to have lost that magic touch which is like a breath from the
Elysian fields, the presence of belief, of hope, most of all of love. She
turned at last and met Allestree’s thoughtful glance. “Bobby,” she
said briefly, “you’re a fool.”
He smiled. “What else, oh, mine enemy?” he asked.
“Everything;” Margaret threw out both hands with a gesture which
seemed to appeal to earth and heaven; “a blind fool, Bobby! You
love her, she probably loves you, and yet you stand by and let her
go! Fool, fool!” Margaret drew her brows down, her cheeks flaming:
“‘He either fears his fate too much,
Or his deserts are small,
Who fears to put it to the touch,
To win or lose it all!’”
she quoted defiantly.
Allestree lighted another cigarette. “My dear Margaret,” he said, “let
me show you this sketch of my mother.”
Margaret bit her lip and stood watching as he turned over two or
three sketches. As he did so her quick eye caught familiar outlines.
“So, that is Lily Osborne?” she said, with a hard little laugh; “I’m not
sensitive, Bobby, let me see it. Did you know the latest gossip about
her?”
Allestree shook his head. “Spare me!” he said smiling.
“Not a bit of it, you deserve no quarter!” Margaret took the sketch
and looked at it, ignoring the one of Mrs. Allestree; “it’s good,” she
commented with amusement; “how fine and full blooded she looks,
and reptilian. The gossip is that she’s caused the recall of the
Russian Ambassador; she’s been telling tales out of school, the
female diplomatist, you know! What did you do, by the way, when
she met Rose here?”
“Oh, we got on,” said Allestree laughing; “what of it?”
“You haven’t heard?” Margaret laughed; “Rose went there to one of
madame’s small and earlies; you know the kind? It seems they
played bridge and Rose didn’t understand it was for money; imagine
a lamb in the hands of wolves! Poor little simpleton! Well, Lily told
her at last that she owed two hundred. Rose fled home, and the
judge—” Margaret laughed and shrugged her shoulders. “Old
Testament Christian, you know! He sent the check but he told Rose
to cut her dead.”
“I knew there was something; Rose never told me, but they speak,”
he rejoined, “the way you women do! In spite of your shrugs,
Margaret, you know the ethics of the thing were abominable; it’s
swindling.”
Margaret continued to laugh. “My dear Bobby,” she said, “Rose isn’t
sixteen and we all play bridge; I lost six hundred last night; she
should have known. It’s tiresome to be a madonna on a pillar!”
“Still Rose was right,” he said bluntly.
“Oh, granted!” Margaret touched his arm lightly; “and you love her!”
Allestree made an impatient movement. “Don’t torture me,
Margaret!” he said sharply.
She whirled around and held out both hands, her eyes moist. “I’m a
brute, Bobby!” she cried; “forgive me—I always say the wrong thing
unless some one sets me a copy; let’s talk about Mahomet’s coffin!”
X
WITH Margaret things had reached a crisis long before that
culminating moment of remorseful emotion in Allestree’s studio; at
last the realities of life—as they appear separated from its pleasures
and its follies—were forced upon her. Too young at the time of her
marriage to comprehend its full significance, as a mere act of barter
and exchange, she had never seriously anticipated her position as
White’s wife; it had been shrouded in a nebulous haze of gratified
vanity, of pleasures and indulgences, for she was glad to shirk the
thought of it. Her awakening, therefore, had been accompanied with
a shock of horror and disgust.
White had been kind to her at first; even the most common and
violent of brute creatures is often kind to its chosen mate, and he
was proud of her beauty, determined to get the value of his money
out of her social distinction; but her capricious temper, her bitter
tongue and her indifference soon had their natural effect. His
kindness wore itself out and when angry he could be tolerably brutal,
for his temper, at best, was coarse and exacting. She had come at
last to look upon the beautiful house, the lavish display, the
sumptuous living as so much gilded misery, and, possessing no
talisman to give her contentment, her stormy nature spent itself in
rebellion and in a growing regret for her own folly. She saw, at last, in
Fox all the qualities which she most admired; her mind answered his
with a subtilty, a kindred sympathy which seemed to assure her of
his love, to justify her assumption that his feeling had never
changed. In her eager pursuit of happiness she had thought to
purchase it first with beauty, then with money and now with love—the
beggar’s price! It was the absorbing impulse of her being; religion
she had none, except the religion of self-indulgence. Standing on the
brink of disaster she still demanded happiness; it was her creed, her
gospel, her divine right. The temptation of it, too, pursued her; how
easy to obtain a divorce from Wicklow, a word almost and it was
done! It was true that there would be a great scandal but, after all,
the scandal could only add a zest to her social success; she was
young, beautiful, distinguished, and if she broke the shackles that
bound her could she not begin all over again? Intoxicating dream,—
how full of temptation it was, of alluring sweetness! After all, does not
the devil appear to us in the shape of an angel of light?
What were ethics compared with her inalienable right to be happy?
The thought of it made her draw a keen breath of relief. Free!—She
alone knew the value of that word.
The children crossed her mind only occasionally; Estelle was more
and more like her father every day, and as for the baby? Margaret
had only vague conceptions of his possibilities; she had seen but
little of him since his birth, except in his nurse’s arms, but she had
recognized that odious likeness to the Whites. Of course old Mrs.
White would take them; she adored them, and Margaret felt that she
knew more about them than she did. After a while when they grew
up—but Margaret could not afford to dwell upon it. They were
associated with her misery, her captivity, as she chose to call it, and
she could not love them; she shrank, indeed, from the thought of
them, and the responsibility that their existence had thrust upon her,
as so many links in her chains.
She returned from her interview with Allestree in a curious frame of
mind. Her unreasonable discourtesy to the Vermilions and Mrs.
Wingfield—people who really only hovered on the edge of her
horizon—her insistent attacks upon Allestree’s sore heart, had all
been prompted by her own feverish misery. Once alone in her room
she went to the mirror, and holding up one of the candelabra, gazed
long and fixedly at her own reflection, asking over again the question
she had asked herself on the night of Mrs. O’Neal’s dinner. Had she
lost her beauty? Was the potency of her spell destroyed in some
mysterious way? Hideous thought—was she growing old?
She saw, indeed, all that she had seen in Allestree’s mirror, and
more; the misery that looked out of her own eyes frightened her, and
there were more delicate lines than there had been on that previous
occasion, or else the light was stronger. This was the reason then of
the senseless stare of Miss Vermilion’s china blue eyes—Margaret
wondered vaguely why girls of that sort always had china blue eyes?
She set down the candelabrum, and sinking into a chair by the open
fire began to brood over her troubles, forgetful that she must be
dressed soon for her own reception; it was the night when her
weekly guests assembled at those already famous evenings. Her
thoughts reverted to Fox; the remembrance of his love for her was
like the sudden fragrance of violets in a desolate place.
He had loved her; it never seemed possible for a moment that a
word, a sign, could not reanimate his passion, as a breath of air will
strike fire from the smouldering embers. Now, too, she could
appreciate and understand his love; she was no longer a raw slip of
a girl or a stiff little Puritan like Rose Temple! But she knew the
barrier which existed between them; never by a word or a sign had
Fox trespassed against White’s hospitality, he would never urge her
to desert her husband, but if she were free—
She rose and began to walk about the room, touching first one object
and then another with restless fingers; the thought of freedom was
like wine, it went to her brain; the vision of the divorce court, the
lawyers, the judges, the newspapers, floated into space. She
stretched her clasped hands high above her head and drew a long
breath, her soul almost shouted for joy. Freedom!
It was, next to happiness, the desired of the gods! And after all did
not one involve the other, was not one absolutely essential to the
other?
She wondered, with a smile, why they talked so much cant about
marriage and divorce? Had they suffered as she had suffered they
would rejoice, as she did, at the thought that there were divorces,
that one could be free again!
Free—good heavens! Not to see him every day, not to hear his
voice, with that mean, trivial rasp in it, not to be one of his chattels!
And Rose? Margaret did not allow herself to dwell too long upon that
vision of the girl’s young figure, her fair, animated face against the
background of the cedars and the sky. Was she jealous of her? That
was an ignominy too deep to contemplate without bitter self-
abasement; she refused to believe it! The shuddering certainty which
had drained the life-blood from lip and cheek became now, on
reflection, a fancy of her feverish brain. Such a raw, simple creature
as Rose was no mate for William Fox; that indisputable attraction of
opposites, which is one of the laws of nature, for a moment lost its
significance in her eyes; she would not believe it. It was not quite
natural for her, though, to take this view, even for a moment, for a
woman, as a rule, has less faith in the endurance of a man’s love
than he has in it himself, because she has usually discovered that
the heart of the ordinary male creature is uncommonly like a pigeon-
cote!
She was determined to forget all these things; she walked to and fro
battling with herself, her restless hands sometimes at her throat and
sometimes clasped behind her head. The strong passion of rebellion
which shook her being amazed even herself. She would never give
him up! She could not—to Rose or to any one; her starved heart
cried out against surrender and defeat, he was hers—hers.
Her maid’s knock at the door startled her, she stopped short and
passed her hands over her eyes, her face burned; she no longer
lacked color, her cheeks had the flush of fever. The girl, coming in to
dress her, was surprised by her high colored beauty, the brilliance of
her eyes, and began to lay out the gown and its accessories with
nervous fingers, half expecting one of Margaret’s wild bursts of
temper. But her mistress seemed only concerned with her toilet; one
gown after another was tried on and rejected until at last she was
arrayed in a shimmering dress of violet and silver which was as
delicate as the tints of the sky at moonrise. She allowed no ornament
on her white neck and arms except a single diamond star which
clasped the ribbon around her throat.
Nothing could have been more perfect than her manner to her
guests. It was one of those occasions, growing constantly more rare,
when White had no reason to complain. She was charming to all,
from the most distinguished to the most socially obscure, she forgot
her prejudices, she even forgot to snub her husband’s political
protégés—to their infinite and undisguised relief—and to her own
particular coterie she was the old, charming, inimitable Margaret. As
on the occasion of her musicale, men predominated, and among
those men were all the notables at the capital. Speaking several
languages, Margaret had made her house a Mecca for all
Europeans; it was an open secret that she espoused the cause of
the Russian ambassador against his secret enemy, Lily Osborne,
and espoused it with a zeal which caused a whispered sensation in
official circles. It was an anxious question what Mrs. White might not
dare to do, for it was believed that she would pause at nothing in her
determination to defeat Mrs. Osborne. Yet it was never hinted that
she concerned herself even remotely with White’s devotion to the fair
divorcée. Her indifference to her husband was a fact too generally
accepted to cause even a ripple in the stream.
There had been much secret comment on her changed and haggard
looks, but her dryadlike loveliness to-night silenced every whisper,
and her gayety, her ease, her clever, reckless talk proclaimed her the
same Margaret they had always known and loved and feared, whose
wit was as keen as it was cruel.
Mrs. O’Neal was the first to bid her good-night. The old lady in her
gorgeous panoply of silk and velvet tottered on, like an ancient war-
horse answering the bugle call, her white head vibrating as she
talked. Still athirst for social power and success, no one was a
keener judge of achievements, and she patted Margaret’s hand.
“My dear,” she whispered, “you’re the most charming creature in the
world when you choose! I’m old enough to tell you.”
“I can never equal you,” Margaret retorted lightly, “even when I
choose!”
“There! It was worth the risk to get the compliment!” the older woman
laughed back; “and your husband, he looked most distinguished to-
night, and those dear children—I saw them in the park! Be good, my
child, and you’ll be happy!” and she smiled complacently at the
axiom as she moved away, a figure of ancient gayety in tight shoes
and costly stays. An hour later when her maid had taken her to
pieces, she presented a spectacle at once instructive and amazing.
Following Mrs. O’Neal’s exit, the accepted signal for departure,
Margaret’s guests began to flow past her in a steady stream,
stopping a moment for the individual farewells or congratulations on
the pleasures of a brilliant evening. She was standing just inside the
ballroom door alone, for White had been summoned unexpectedly to
the White House a half-hour previously, his departure adding to the
zest of gossip and speculation upon the political situation. Margaret’s
slim figure in its shimmering dress, her animated face, the peculiar
charm of her smile, had never been more observed; she was
beautiful. Those who had questioned it, those who had been only
half convinced and those who had denied it, were alike overwhelmed
with its manifestation. It seemed as if the intangibility of her much
disputed charm had vanished and her beauty had taken a visible
shape, was crystallized and purified by some fervent emotion which
made her spirit illuminate it as the light shines through an alabaster
lamp.
One by one they pressed her hand and passed on, feeling the
inspiration of her glance; one white haired diplomat bent gracefully
and kissed her fingers, an involuntary tribute which brought a faint
blush to her cheek.
Fox was among the last to approach, and as he did so she stopped
him with a slight but imperative gesture. “Stay a moment, William,”
she murmured, with almost a look of appeal, “I want to speak to
you.”
Thus admonished he turned back, conscious that by so doing he
startled a glance of comprehension in the eyes of Louis Berkman,
who was following him, which annoyed him for Margaret’s sake. He
went over to the fireplace and stood watching the falling embers
while the remaining guests made their adieux, then as the rustle and
murmur of their departure grew more distant and lost itself in the
rooms beyond, he turned and saw her coming down the long room
alone and was startled by the extreme youthfulness and fragility of
her appearance, and by the discovery, which came to him with the
shock of surprise, that her radiant aspect had slipped from her with
her departing guests, that her face was colorless and pinched,
though her eyes were still feverishly bright.
“It was good of you to stay,” she said, coming to the fire and holding
out her hands to the blaze; “how cold it is for the first of April. Sit
down, William, and let me send for wine and cigarettes; you look
tired.”
He raised a deprecating hand. “No more hospitality,” he said firmly;
“you’ve done enough; you’ve lost all your color now.”
“Except what I put on with a brush,” she said dryly, clasping her
hands and letting her long white arms hang down before her as she
looked across at him with a keen glance. “I know—you’ve eaten
nothing here since Wicklow broke his word and the rest of it. You
won’t eat his bread!”
Fox colored. “Should I be here in that case?” he asked.
She shook her head, glancing at the fire. “You can’t fool me—I
understand.”
“Come, I must go,” he said firmly; “it is very late and you look
wearied to death. You must be, you were absolutely the life of it to-
night; you should have heard old de Caillou rhapsodize!”
“Did I do well—did I look my best?” she asked, her lip quivering like a
child’s, her eyes still on the fire.
“You were your own happy self!” he replied.
She looked up, her slight figure swaying a little as she wrung her
hands together; the tears rained down her cheeks. “Billy,” she
sobbed, “I’m wretched—I—I can’t stand it any longer, it will kill me!”
XI
FOX stood aghast at the force, the agony, the abandon of Margaret’s
confession. Any presentiment which might have warned him had
been disarmed by her previous gayety.
Almost unconsciously his hand met hers, which was stretched out in
a mute appeal. He drew her to a chair. “Sit down,” he said, in an
unsteady voice, with an impotent impulse of resistance; “try to calm
yourself! This is dreadful!”
She obeyed him mechanically; sinking into the great armchair and
turning her face against it, she continued to weep, her whole delicate
frame shaken and quivering with her emotion.
Fox stood still holding her hand and looking down at her in deep
perplexity. He was intuitively aware of the extreme peril and delicacy
of the situation for them both, only too certain of her wild and
unguarded impulses, and that moment—more supremely than ever
—revealed to him the absolute demise of his own passion. He tried
to quiet her, speaking a few gentle and soothing words, sharply
conscious of their inadequacy.
But she scarcely heeded them. After a moment the storm spent
itself, and she turned, revealing her white, tear-stained face which
was still beautiful in spite of her weeping. “There comes a time,” she
said, in a low voice, “when one can bear it no longer—when one
would rather die.”
“For God’s sake, Margaret, don’t say such things!” he exclaimed,
profoundly moved.
Her lips quivered. “Is it so dreadful to say them?” she retorted
passionately; “when you feel them? When they are burned into your
flesh? I’m so weary of conventionalities. I tell you that I can’t bear it,
that I will not bear it any longer!”
As she spoke she rose and stood facing him, her eyes feverishly
bright and moist with unshed tears. “You ask too much of me, you
have no right to ask it—no one has!” she continued, her lip quivering
again; “I cannot be silent—it’s killing me by inches!”
Fox colored deeply; he was suddenly forced into an impossible
position. “My dear Margaret,” he said gravely, “I have no words to
meet it; you must know how profoundly I feel it!”
“If I did not—if I were not sure of you!” she replied, a little wildly, “it
would kill me sooner. Sometimes I have wanted to die. The doctors
say that I have heart trouble—I hope I have! If I believed in prayer I
should have prayed to die.”
“Margaret! is it as bad as that?” he cried, in sudden uncontrollable
pity; he remembered her as so young, so beautiful, so happy!
Her lips twitched. “As bad as that?” she repeated wildly; “I feel like a
trapped squirrel, a rabbit in a snare, I can only shriek because it
hurts me—it isn’t bad enough yet to kill! I’m caged—oh, William,
William, help me get out!”
“Margaret!” he exclaimed sharply, “don’t you know that I can’t hear
this? This is White’s house, I’ve broken his bread. My God, how
dreadful it all is!”
Her hand clenched unconsciously at her side, her white neck rose
and fell with her tortured breathing, a horrible doubt had assailed her.
Then the light broke over her face; he loved her, that was it, and he
was too honorable to speak! She held out both hands. “William,
forgive me,” she murmured softly, “but what have we gained by
silence? What does it all matter to the world? But you must go,
perhaps I did wrong to tell you now! Good-night, I—I—”
Her lips quivered pitifully. “I have always loved you—don’t think me a
wicked woman.”
“Margaret!” he groaned, deeply, terribly touched, yet with a sickening
consciousness of his own unresponsive heart.
She smiled faintly, moving away from him toward the stairs. “Oh, you
must go, good-night!” she repeated, as he paused half reluctant. “I’m
resolved, nothing shall change me—in a little while—” she paused
and he saw the change in her face, its lighting up and softening, the
revelation of its beauty, its subtle charm; saw it with a slow agony of
remorse and reluctance; “in a little while,” she said, and her smile
was wonderful, “I shall be free!”
Fox scarcely knew how he got out of the house; he left it in a dream
and went directly home to his own apartments in an uptown flat. The
distance was not great and he scarcely allowed himself to think. His
mind was almost confused by the sudden and blinding climax. But as
he opened his door, and the dog, Sandy, leaped to meet him, a rush
of feeling swept away his passive resistance; he forced himself to
turn on the lights more fully and to look about at the familiar objects
which met his eyes on all sides, his books, his pictures, his littered
writing-table; he even picked up the evening mail, which his clerk
had left in its accustomed place, and looked over the pile of letters
and pamphlets. But it cost him an effort.
It was very late, but sleep was impossible, and picking up his hat and
stick he whistled to Sandy and the two went out into the almost
deserted streets. The dog leaped about him with quick, joyous barks,
rejoicing in the unexpected outing, and Fox turned his face
northward, walking steadily along the brilliantly lighted and strangely
quiet avenue which led him through the heart of the northwest
section and up on the hill. The tumult of his mind found relief in the
physical exercise and the fresh cold air of an early April night.
In spite of that central egotism of his, which was capable of much
when unkindly stirred, Fox believed that he possessed strong
convictions on the nicer points of honor. If he had drifted often to
White’s house and been much in Margaret’s society it was with no
intention of offending against his host. His indolence, his
carelessness of what was mere gossip and tittle-tattle, had made
him indifferent to the conclusions of others, but he was not unaware
of the talk and the surmises of his enemies; he was not unaware that
Margaret stood on delicate ground and that, if she separated from
White, there would be a wild burst of excited comment—the
comment which costs a woman her good name. Such being the case
she had suddenly thrown herself upon his sympathy, she had torn
away the thin veil of conventionality which had saved them, and it
was for him to desert her or to defend her when the supreme
moment came.
That moment would involve not only his own happiness but—he
paused in his thoughts with a shock of feeling which flooded his
consciousness with a lucidity, an insight, which appalled him. Was he
mistaken, or did it also involve the happiness of the young and
innocent girl whom he loved? At the thought of Rose his heart sank;
he felt instinctively her abhorrence, her complete lack of
understanding of his peculiar situation. To Rose’s mind, doubtless,
he would appear in the likeness of Mephistopheles!
Good God, what would she think of him? he thought; but yesterday
he had held her hand, looked into her pure, young eyes, almost
spoken the final words which would have laid bare his very soul—
and now! He seemed to feel the heated, perfumed atmosphere, the
pressure of Margaret’s fingers on his arm, her wild, sweet smile
when she proclaimed her love for him without shame—how vividly
he saw it! And her absolute belief in his unchanged love for her!
Infatuation, madness, self-deception, it might be all these and more,
but she was a woman—and she had flung herself upon his mercy!
As yet that other aspect of the affair, the blighting of his public career
which such a scandal might in a measure effect, had not thrust itself
upon him; his only thought was for Rose. In that hour he learned how
profoundly he loved her; it was part of his nature that the very denial
of a gift increased his desire to obtain it.
He walked long and far; the night was lightly clouded; but once the
moon broke through a rift and flooded the upper sky with light. As he
turned on the heights the city lay at his feet, dark and slumbering
save for the lighted streets. A policeman tramping past glanced
keenly at him. The air had a crispness that was not wintry, and once
or twice the sweetness of hyacinths reached him from some flower-
studded lawn. Sandy trailed at his heels, faithful but anxious; the way
was new and the hour strange.
They walked on; it was toward morning when the man and the dog
returned and, when they entered his rooms again, Fox’s face was
white, his eyes and mouth were haggard, with the look of a man who
has passed through a great crisis with much agony of soul. For he
had found but one solution, and that sealed his lips.
If his careless preference for her, for her gayety and her wit, if his
thoughtless seeking of her society, if the coupling of his name with
hers, had led her to this breaking of her life, then there was no
question, there could be no question—he thrust the thought deep
down out of sight but it remained there, coiled like the serpent, ready
to strike at the heart of his happiness.
XII
IT was ten o’clock in the morning, and Rose was clipping the dead
leaves from her flowers in the bow-window of the library, while Judge
Temple still read the morning paper in his great high-backed chair; a
shaft of sunlight stealing through the open carving touched his
scanty white hair and showed the crumpled lines of the blue veins on
his temples. He was an old man; he had married late in life and
Rose, the youngest born and only survivor of five children, was
proportionately dear to him. There was a warm sympathy between
them and a companionship beautiful to see.
“There’s some trouble in the Cabinet,” he observed, as he turned his
paper; “there are hints here about Wicklow White.”
Rose looked thoughtful but continued to arrange her flowers.
“Margaret seems very unhappy and very gay, as usual,” she
remarked softly.
“Too gay, my dear,” the judge commented; “old-fashioned fogies like
myself get easily shocked. Never go to her dressmaker!”
Rose laughed, her scissors sparkling in the sun. “Why, father, people
rave about her and copy her everywhere.”
“Let them,” said the judge dryly, “let them—but not my daughter!
Rose, I’d—I’d whip you!”
“You never did that in your life,” she smiled, “I’m almost tempted to
try it and see.”
“Better not,” he retorted grimly, taking off his spectacles and putting
them into his pocket; “you’d get a lesson!”
“Poor Margaret!” Rose colored a little; she had caught the glance
which Margaret had bestowed on her and Fox.
“Poor fiddlesticks!” replied the judge, rising and folding his paper;
“she’s made her bed, child, and she must lie on it; that’s the law of
life; we reap as we sow.”
Rose looked across at him affectionately, but she was wondering
what he thought of William Fox; she had never dared to ask. “It’s a
hard law, father,” she said gently, “we all want to be happy.”
“You will be—just in proportion to your right to be,” he retorted
calmly; “it’s a matter of the heart anyway, Rose, and not of external
matters.”
“I suppose so,” she replied, with a slight sigh; “but one would like to
have externals and internals agree, don’t you think?”
The old man laughed pleasantly. “Most of us would,” he admitted,
“but we never have our way in this world, not in my observation.”
As he spoke there was a stir in the hall, and a young girl appeared at
the drawing-room door.
“It’s Gertrude English,” Rose said; “don’t go yet, father, I’ll take her
away.”
But it appeared that the judge had to go to court, and he went out,
patting little Miss English on the shoulder as he passed. “We children
grow,” he said laughing.
“I wish I’d grown more,” she retorted ruefully; “everybody calls me ‘a
little thing,’ and I’m not, really, I’m five feet four.”
“Napoleon was small,” remarked the judge teasingly, “and William
Third and Louis Fourteenth.”
“I know what you think of two of those!” objected Gertrude; “we
remember our history lessons here, don’t we, Rose?”
“Well—but when a rogue’s famous!” said the judge, and went out
smiling at his own jest.
Miss English walked over to the window and watched Rose water
her plants and turn them religiously to the sun.
“Take off your hat, Gertrude,” she said pleasantly; “you really look
tired; can’t you stay awhile?”
Gertrude shook her head. “No,” she said firmly; “I’ve got about a
million notes to write for Margaret and the lunch cards to get ready
for to-morrow; to-night she dines the President. I’m tired of it; I wish I
could make money cracking stones!”
“Poor Gerty!” Rose looked at her with gentle concern; “you’re very
pale, you look as if you hadn’t slept.”
“I haven’t,” said Miss English flatly, “not a wink.”
“I hope Margaret doesn’t make you work late,” Rose murmured,
beginning to search again for dead leaves.
“Margaret?” the little secretary sat down and leaned her elbows on
her knees, her chin in her hands; “Rose, I’m so sorry for her!”
“She seems gay enough,” Rose observed quietly.
“I should say so! I was there very late last night; it was one of her
entertainments, and little Ward was sick. I sat with him. You know
she treats the children sometimes like playthings, and again—like
rats! I was in the nursery watching him and helping the nurse until all
the guests went. Then I went down stairs; I wanted to tell Margaret
what I’d done, and I went to the ballroom door. She didn’t hear me
call to her, and I went back up stairs feeling like a sneak. She was
there with Mr. Fox and she was crying dreadfully when I saw her.”
Rose’s scissors clipped sharply and a fresh young twig fell unnoticed
to the floor. There was a long pause. Miss English had mechanically
taken off her gloves and she was drawing them through her fingers,
her face full of honest trouble.
“After awhile she came up stairs,” she continued, “and came into the
room where I was—”
“Gertrude,” interrupted Rose suddenly, “ought you to tell me this?”
“Every one will know soon,” said Gertrude dryly; “she came over and
looked at the child and said she was glad he was better—he was
asleep then and the nurse had gone out of the room for some extra
milk. Margaret’s face was white, and her eyes—I never saw her eyes
so wonderful. Suddenly she flung her arms around my neck and
began to cry, softly so as not to wake the child. She told me—she’s
going to get a divorce!”
Rose put aside her scissors and sat down, looking across at
Gertrude with a strange expression, but she said nothing.
Miss English sighed, folding her gloves again. “Of course I know how
bad it’s been,” she said; “he’s a brute to her sometimes and swears
at her before everybody but, well, Rose, don’t you think you’d swear
at Margaret if you had to live with her?”
Rose smiled a little, her lips pale. “I don’t know, Gerty,” she said, “I
never did—in my life.”
“Didn’t you?” Miss English sighed again; “well,” she said, “when
you’re poor, downright, disgustingly poor, you just have to say ‘damn’
once in awhile, if you didn’t you’d kill somebody!”
“But White isn’t poor,” objected Rose, “he’s only vulgar.”
“Well, of course there’s Lily Osborne,” Gertrude shrugged her
shoulders; “there won’t be any trouble about the divorce in the State
of New York or anywhere else, I fancy! I wonder if she means to go
to Omaha.”
“Do you believe it’s really settled?” Rose asked, with a strong feeling
of self-abasement; she thought herself a scandal-monger, an
unworthy creature, but her heart quaked within her with an unspoken
dread, and Miss English’s next remarks drove it home.
“Without doubt,” she said; “I know it is and,”—she colored a little and
looked out of the window at the April sunshine on the garden wall
—“Rose, do you believe she’ll marry William Fox?” she whispered.
Rose sat regarding her and said nothing. What could she say, poor
child? That vividly pictured scene of Margaret weeping and Fox as
her comforter was burning deep, and Rose had been brought up by
an Old Testament Christian!
“It would be a great pity,” Miss English observed, after a long silence;
“it would ruin Mr. Fox—people would say everything.”
Rose colored painfully. “People say very cruel things, Gerty,” she
said slowly, “and, perhaps, we’re as bad as any just now.”

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