key-hole, I asked:
'Have you the key?'

''Yes.'

''Then unlock the door, and bring the key with you to this side.'

'A few moments more, and a woman, to judge from the lightness of the
tread, for I was still without light, precipitated herself into, rather
than entered, the room.

''Oh! thanks; from my heart I thank you, Senor, whoever you are; I owe
my life to your kind assistance.'

'The sound of her voice, which I at once recognized, changed the
suspicion which had from the first moment flashed upon my mind, into
full assurance.

''Do not be afraid, madame,' said I, 'you are in perfect safety here.
Do you lock the door, while I look to my candles.'

'The first object my candle brought to light was the pale but still
charming face of my beautiful country-woman.

''You, sir!' she exclaimed, scarcely able to suppress her astonishment.
'In mercy I implore you, save me from the fury of my husband.'

''Of Mr. Albert Pride?'

''No, sir, Albert is not my husband; but, listen!--do you not
hear?--they are quarreling--they are struggling.'

'I listened. She was not mistaken. In spite of the two partitions which
separated us from the scene of this angry interview, we distinctly heard
the furious accents of passion. All at once a violent shock made the
wall--thin enough, it is true--creak and rattle; then, a moment
afterward, we heard the fall as of a body, accompanied with a low moan.

''Albert is dead! He has murdered him; but woe be to him. I will be
revenged yet,' exclaimed my companion, her eyes glaring with unearthly
fire.

'At this moment, hasty footsteps sounded in the adjoining room, which I
subsequently discovered was Pride's bed-chamber.

''Sir,' said a voice choked with anger, 'you are a coward, and shall
give me satisfaction for this insult.'

''You brought it on yourself, by your own obstinacy. Had you not opposed
my entrance to this room, I should not have used violence toward _you_,
at any rate. As for the satisfaction you claim, I will think about
that.'

''Well, you see that your wife is not here,' replied Albert, after a
short silence, during which we could hear the furniture being moved,
closets opened, and the curtain-rings rattle.

''True, sir; but her absence only proves one thing, that in one
particular I have been misinformed.'

''Confess rather, egregiously duped.'

''_Duped!_--nay, you are the dupe. Will you, Arthur Livermore, give me
your word of honor as a gentleman, that my