"Please
excuse me; I feel unwell, and fear I have been too much in the sun
to-day."

At this moment De Forest walked out of Josh.'s. "Mrs. Maroney," said
he, "will you come to the garden this evening?"

Madam Imbert turned to leave.

Mrs. Maroney looked him full in the face with flashing eyes, clenched
her little hand, and in a voice hoarse from passion, exclaimed: "What do
you want here, you scoundrel?"

[Illustration: "_Mrs. Maroney looked him full in the face with flashing
eyes, clenched her little hand, and in a voice hoarse from passion,
exclaimed: 'What do you want here, you scoundrel?'_"--Page 190.]

If a thunderbolt had fallen at his feet, De Forest could not have been
more astonished; he was struck speechless; his powers of articulation
were gone. She said not one word more, but stalked into the house and
closed the door with a bang that made him jump.

Madam Imbert wended her way to the tavern, but De Forest stood for fully
two minutes, seemingly deprived of the power of motion. He then darted
eagerly toward the door, determined to have an explanation, but was met
by Josh., who said: "You have done something that has raised the d----l
in Mrs. Maroney, and she will play the deuce with you if you don't clear
out. If you try to speak to her, she will pistol you, sure!"

"But what have I done?" asked De Forest. "It is only an hour since I
left her, and we were then on the best of terms. I have _always_ treated
her well!"

"Come, come!" said Josh., "don't stand talking here. People will see we
are having a fuss." And he took De Forest by the arm and led him toward
Stemples's.

Madam Imbert had met Rivers on her way, and sent him to find out how
affairs were progressing. He arrived at this moment. "Hello," said he to
Josh., "I was just coming to see you."

"Yes! You have come at the wrong time. Mrs. Maroney is as mad as
blazes, and would have shot De Forest if it had not been for me. I can't
tell what for, but, by the Eternal, she would have done it!"

De Forest was all in a maze. He could not imagine what he had done to
cause the woman he loved to become so excited as to desire to kill him.

They all three went to the hotel, and De Forest, although generally not
a drinking man, called them all up and treated. The fun of the whole
thing was that De Forest had not the slightest idea what it was that had
caused the trouble. Only an hour before she was by his side in the
buggy, and they were so happy an