He might leave her if she fought him too bitterly.

He might treat her as he had treated his first wife, Lillian.
She studied her liege lord curiously these days, wondering if it were true that he had deserted her already, as he had deserted his first wife thirteen years before, wondering if he could really take up with a girl as common as Antoinette Nowak--wondering, wondering, wondering--half afraid and yet courageous.

What could be done with him?
If only he still loved her all would be well yet--but oh! The detective agency to which she finally applied, after weeks of soul-racking suspense, was one of those disturbingly human implements which many are not opposed to using on occasion, when it is the only means of solving a troublous problem of wounded feelings or jeopardized interests.

Aileen, being obviously rich, was forthwith shamefully overcharged; but the services agreed upon were well performed.

To her amazement, chagrin, and distress, after a few weeks of observation Cowperwood was reported to have affairs not only with Antoinette Nowak, whom she did suspect, but also with Mrs.Sohlberg.