place in which I found myself.

'He was lying on an old bedstead, which turned up during the day. The
tattered remains of a checked curtain were drawn round the bed's head,
to exclude the wind, which, however, made its way into the comfortless
room through the numerous chinks in the door, and blew it to and fro
every instant. There was a low cinder fire in a rusty, unfixed grate;
and an old three-cornered stained table, with some medicine bottles, a
broken glass, and a few other domestic articles, was drawn out before
it. A little child was sleeping on a temporary bed which had been made
for it on the floor, and the woman sat on a chair by its side. There
were a couple of shelves, with a few plates and cups and saucers; and
a pair of stage shoes and a couple of foils hung beneath them. With the
exception of little heaps of rags and bundles which had been carelessly
thrown into the corners of the room, these were the only things in the
apartment.

'I had had time to note these little particulars, and to mark the heavy
breathing and feverish startings of the sick man, before he was aware of
my presence. In the restless attempts to procure some easy resting-place
for his head, he tossed his hand out of the bed, and it fell on mine. He
started up, and stared eagerly in my face.

'"Mr. Hutley, John," said his wife; "Mr. Hutley, that you sent for
to-night, you know."

'"Ah!" said the invalid, passing his hand across his forehead;
"Hutley--Hutley--let me see." He seemed endeavouring to collect his
thoughts for a few seconds, and then grasping me tightly by the wrist
said, "Don't leave me--don't leave me, old fellow. She'll murder me; I
know she will."

'"Has he been long so?" said I, addressing his weeping wife.

'"Since yesterday night," she replied. "John, John, don't you know me?"
'"Don't let her come near me," said the man, with a shudder, as she
stooped over him. "Drive her away; I can't bear her near me." He stared
wildly at her, with a look of deadly apprehension, and then whispered in
my ear, "I beat her, Jem; I beat her yesterday, and many times before.
I have starved her and the boy too; and now I am weak and helpless, Jem,
she'll murder me for it; I know she will. If you'd seen her cry, as I
have, you'd know it too. Keep her off." He relaxed his grasp, and sank
back exhausted on the pillow. 'I knew but too well what all this meant.
If I could have entertained any doubt of it, for an instant, one
glance at th