he has placed in their hands?
Are they not his almoners?"

"No more than poor men, and not to be held to any stricter
accountability," was replied. "Mr. Birtwell does not sin against the
poor when he lavishes his hundreds, or it may be thousands, of dollars
in the preparation of a feast for his friends any more than you do when
you buy a box of French candies to eat alone in your room or share with
your visitors, maybe not so much."

There was a laugh at the expense of the vinegar-faced lady, who did not
fail in a sharp retort which was more acid than convincing. The
conversation then went back to General Abercrombie and his wife.

"Didn't she look dreadful?" remarked one of the company.

"And her manner toward the general was so singular."

"In what respect?" asked Mrs. Craig.

"She looked at him so strangely, so anxious and scared-like. I never
knew him to be so silent. He's social and talkative, you know--such
good company. But he hadn't a word to say this morning. Something has
gone wrong between him and his wife. I wonder what it can be?"

But Mr. and Mrs. Craig, who were not of the gossiping kind, were
disposed to keep their own counsel.

"I thought I heard some unusual noises in their room last night after
they came home from the party," said a lady whose chamber was opposite
theirs across the hall. "They seemed to be moving furniture about, and
twice I thought I heard a scream. But then the storm was so high that
one might easily have mistaken a wail of the wind for a cry of
distress."

"A cry of distress! You didn't imagine that the general was maltreating
his wife?"

"I intimated nothing of the kind," returned the lady.

"But what made you think about a cry of distress?"

"I merely said that I thought I heard a scream; and if you had been
awake from twelve to one or two o'clock this morning, you would have
thought the air full of wailing voices. The storm chafed about the roof
and chimneys in a dreadful way. I never knew a wilder night."

"You saw the general at the party?" said one, addressing Mr. Craig.

"Yes, a few times. But there was a crowd in all the rooms, and the same
people were not often thrown together."

"Nothing unusual about him? Hadn't been drinking too much?"

"Not when I observed him. But--" Mr. Craig hesitated a moment, and then
went on: "But there's one thing has a strange look. They went in a
carriage, I know, but walked home in all that dreadful storm."

"Walked home!