How they got home Mrs. Abercrombie hardly knew, but home they were
at last and in their own room, the door closed and locked and the
key withdrawn by her husband, out of whose manner all the wild
passion had gone. His movements were quiet and his voice when he
spoke low, but his wife knew by the gleam of his restless eyes that
thought and purpose were active.
Their room was in the third story of a large boarding-house in a
fashionable part of the city. The outlook was upon the street. The
house was double, a wide hall running through the centre. There were
four or five large rooms on this floor, all occupied. In the one
adjoining theirs were a lady and gentleman who had been at Mr. and
Mrs. Birtwell's party, and who drove up in a carriage just as the
general and Mrs. Abercrombie, white with snow, came to the door.
They entered together, the lady expressing surprise at their
appearance, at which the general growled some incoherent sentences
and strode away from them and up the stairs, Mrs. Abercrombie
following close after him.
"There's something wrong, I'm afraid," said the gentleman, whose
name was Craig, as he and his wife gained their own room. They went
in a carriage, I know. What can it mean?"
"I hope the general has not been drinking too much," remarked the
wife.
"I'm afraid he has. He used to be very intemperate, I've heard, but
reformed a year or two ago, A man with any weakness in this
direction would be in danger at an entertainment such as Mr.
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