Epilogue
When the news finally came, that next week, that the Board of Directors had indeed given him that appointment he was ecstatic. He bought a couple of bottles of champagne to celebrate.
His wife, however, was far from pleased with him. He became absorbed in his work and no longer spent any time with her. She became so desperate and lonely that she finally started seeing a divorced engineer. They committed adultery behind his back and finally Selina agreed to divorce her husband and marry her lover.
John was not at all disappointed when she left. He was rather pleased. The year after her departure the "Old Man" went into retirement and John was appointed president of Mutual of Hartford. He was quite pleased about the whole thing. While other people destroyed their lives pursuing hopeless dreams of love and happiness, he devoted all of his energies to business.
To each his own, as the old saying goes.