Return

My return was swift, overland through the Panama and a speedy steamer up to New York. Upon my return, I found that Rosalie had moved into my home and studio. I found her resolved to remain with me and to endure whatever ills had to be suffered in order for us to stay together and to become man and wife. The poor girl could not live with the falsity of pretending to be any longer Ludlow's wife, and, somehow, she has brought her parents around to understanding her choice, and they support us! Although I regarded Ludlow as a brother once, his conduct is reprehensible and there really is no other answer for it; to throw away a woman such as this on a man like Ludlow cannot be God's will. I am greatly grieved that she has lost the little babe that drew us together, and is still showing the effects of her ordeal, so thin, so pale. However, perhaps once we are wed this sad omission may be remedied.

New York society will holler, and there will be a great crying-up about morality, but after visiting among the Mormons, where wifeliness has an altogether different meaning, it seems but a small thing to obtain just one divorce, and to obtain one marriage, especially where the case is so meritorious. In any case, perhaps we shall make our home somewhere more tolerant, so that my dear lovely Rosalie will not have to suffer from unkind "cuts" and uncouth remarks by strangers, or worse, former friends. Meanwhile, while we await Ludlow's slow return so that we can begin the divorce proceedings, I am painting like a fiend, so as to raise money and to silence the unholy clamor of public rebuke: let them look on these views and remain petty, if they can!