which met my eyes,
that something more than bitter words passed occasionally between the
ill-matched couple.

Late in the day, nearly five years anterior to the time of which I am
now writing, I was summoned in haste to visit Captain Allen. I found him
lying on a bed in the north-west chamber, where he usually slept, in
a state of insensibility. Mrs. Allen received me at the door of the
chamber with a frightened countenance. On inquiry as to the cause of
his condition, she informed me that he had gone to his own room about an
hour before, a little the worse for a bottle of wine; and that she had
heard nothing more from him, until she was startled by a loud, jarring
noise in his chamber. On running up stairs, she found him lying upon the
floor, insensible.

I looked at her steadily, as she gave me this relation, but could not
hold her eyes in mine. She seemed more uneasy than troubled. There was
a contused wound just below the right temple, which covered, with its
livid stain, a portion of the cheek. A cursory examination satisfied me
that, whatever might be the cause of his fall, congestion of the brain
had occurred, and that but few chances for life remained. So I informed
Mrs. Allen. At the words, I could see a shudder run through her frame,
and an expression of something like terror sweep over her face.

"His father died of apoplexy," said she in a hoarse whisper, looking at
me with a side-long, almost stealthy glance, not full and open-eyed.

"This is something more than apoplexy," I remarked; still observing her
closely.

"The fall may have injured him," she suggested.

"The blow on his temple has done the fearful work," said I.

There was a perceptible start, and another look of fear-almost terror.

"For heaven's sake, doctor," she said, rousing herself, and speaking
half imperatively, "do something! Don't stand speculating about the
cause; but do something if you have any skill."

Thus prompted, I set myself to work, in good earnest, with my patient.
The result was in no way flattering to my skill, for he passed to his
account in less than an hour, dying without a sign.

I shall never forget the wild screams which rang awfully through the old
mansion, when it was announced to Mrs. Allen that the Captain was dead.
She flung herself upon his body, tore her hair, and committed other
extravagances. All the slumbering passions of her undisciplined nature
seemed quickened into sudden life, overmastering her