.
Zabriskie's life previous to the death of Mr. Hasbrouck. I learned from
sources it would be unwise to quote just here, that Mrs. Zabriskie had
not lacked enemies to charge her with coquetry; that while she had never
sacrificed her dignity in public, more than one person had been heard to
declare that Dr. Zabriskie was fortunate in being blind, since the sight
of his wife's beauty would have but poorly compensated him for the pain
he would have suffered in seeing how that beauty was admired.

That all gossip is more or less tinged with exaggeration I have no
doubt, yet when a name is mentioned in connection with such stories,
there is usually some truth at the bottom of them. And a name is
mentioned in this case, though I do not think it worth my while to
repeat it here; and loth as I am to recognize the fact, it is a name
that carries with it doubts that might easily account for the husband's
jealousy. True, I have found no one who dares hint that she still
continues to attract attention or to bestow smiles in any direction save
where they legally belong. For since a certain memorable night which
we all know, neither Dr. Zabriskie nor his wife have been seen save
in their own domestic circle, and it is not into such scenes that this
serpent, to whom I have just alluded, ever intrudes, nor is it in
places of sorrow or suffering that his smile shines, or his fascinations
flourish.

And so one portion of my theory is proved to be sound. Dr. Zabriskie is
jealous of his wife; whether with good cause or bad I am not prepared to
decide; since her present attitude, clouded as it is by the tragedy in
which she and her husband are both involved, must differ very much
from that which she held when her life was unshadowed by doubt, and her
admirers could be counted by the score.

I have just found out where Leonard is. As he is in service some miles
up the river, I shall have to be absent from my post for several hours,
but I consider the game well worth the candle.

Light at last. I have not only seen Leonard, but succeeded in making
him talk. His story is substantially this: That on the night so often
mentioned, he packed his master's portmanteau at eight o'clock and at
ten called a taxi and rode with the doctor to the Central station. He
was told to buy tickets to Poughkeepsie where his master had been
called in consultation, and having done this, hurried back to join Dr.
Zabriskie on the platform. They had walked together