expression of his eyes, which stared
straight before him in an agony of longing only to be observed
in those who have once seen.

"'Where have you been, Helen?' he asked, as, contrary to his
wont, he moved to meet her.

"'To my mother's, to Arnold & Constable's, and to the
hospital, as you requested,' was her quick answer, made
without faltering or embarrassment.

"He stepped still nearer and took her hand, and as he did so
my physician's eye noted how his finger lay over her pulse in
seeming unconsciousness.

"'Nowhere else?' he queried.

"She smiled the saddest kind of smile and shook her head;
then, remembering that he could not see this movement, she
cried in a wistful tone:

"'Nowhere else, Constant; I was too anxious to get back.'

"I expected him to drop her hand at this, but he did not; and
his finger still rested on her pulse.

"'And whom did you see while you were gone?' he continued.

"She told him, naming over several names.

"'You must have enjoyed yourself,' was his cold comment, as he
let go her hand and turned away. But his manner showed
relief, and I could not but sympathize with the pitiable
situation of a man who found himself forced to means like
these for probing the heart of his young wife.

"Yet when I turned towards her I realized that her position
was but little happier than his. Tears are no strangers to her
eyes, but those that welled up at this moment seemed to
possess a bitterness that promised but little peace for her
future. Yet she quickly dried them and busied herself with
ministrations for his comfort.

* * * * *

"If I am any judge of woman, Helen Zabriskie is superior to
most of her sex. That her husband mistrusts her is evident,
but whether this is the result of the stand she has taken in
his regard, or only a manifestation of dementia, I have as
yet been unable to determine. I dread to leave them alone
together, and yet when I presume to suggest that she should be
on her guard in her interviews with him, she smiles very
placidly and tells me that nothing would give her greater joy
than to see him lift his hand against her, for that would
argue that he is not accountable for his deeds or for his
assertions.

"Yet it would