flew into a passion with me for the first
time in her life.

"Lies!" she cried. "Impudent lies on the face of them--invented to
appeal to your interest. How dare you repeat them? General! if Mina
had not brought it on herself, this man's audacity would justify you in
instantly dismissing him. Don't you agree with me?"

The General's sense of fair play roused him for once into openly
opposing his wife.

"You are completely mistaken," he said. "Mina and I have both had the
shawl and the letter in our hands--and (what was there besides?)--ah,
yes, the very linen the child was wrapped in."

What there was in those words to check Lady Claudia's anger in its full
flow I was quite unable to understand. If her husband had put a pistol
to her head, he could hardly have silenced her more effectually. She did
not appear to be frightened, or ashamed of her outbreak of rage--she
sat vacant and speechless, with her eyes on the General and her hands
crossed on her lap. After waiting a moment (wondering as I did what
it meant) my uncle rose with his customary resignation and left her. I
followed him. He was unusually silent and thoughtful; not a word passed
between us. I afterward discovered that he was beginning to fear,
poor man, that his wife's mind must be affected in some way, and was
meditating a consultation with the physician who helped us in cases of
need.

As for myself, I was either too stupid or too innocent to feel any
positive forewarning of the truth, so far. After luncheon, while I was
alone in the conservatory, my maid came to me from Michael, asking if
I had any commands for him in the afternoon. I thought this rather odd;
but it occurred to me that he might want some hours to himself. I made
the inquiry.

To my astonishment, the maid announced that Lady Claudia had employed
Michael to go on an errand for her. The nature of the errand was to take
a letter to her bookseller, and to bring back the books which she had
ordered. With three idle footmen in the house, whose business it was to
perform such service as this, why had she taken the groom away from his
work? The question obtained such complete possession of my mind that I
actually summoned courage enough to go to my aunt. I said I had thought
of driving out in my pony-carriage that afternoon, and I asked if she
objected to sending one of the three indoor servants for her books in
Michael's place.

She received me with a strange hard stare, and answered w