r is all right. He had to give it up. It was this morning he
threatened her, and she is prostrate now."

For all answer he burst into a mad passion of tears. Never had Ray
witnessed such self-abasement. Never had he seen such awful remorse. It
was an hour, nearly, before he could calm him sufficiently to extract
from him his story, and it amounted practically to this:

He had killed an opponent in a duel over cards in Dresden. There was
nothing for it but to leave instantly and to seek safety in America. His
rank was that of rittmeister in the hussars, and he had nothing to do
but enlist in the cavalry. He was penniless and starving when he reached
Truscott's quarters, and her face, bending over him as he rallied from
his swoon, had haunted him day and night with its beauty, its sympathy
and tenderness. She became the idol, the goddess of his life; he watched
her day and night in his mad infatuation; he dreamed of her as his own;
he wrote letter after letter to her as the sole means of giving vent to
the wild, passionate love which had turned his brain; he destroyed them
one after another; he never by word, or look, or deed, so far as he
knew, let her see aught of his hopeless love. He never thought to let
one of these letters fall from his hands. Yet, whenever he was alone he
wrote. He had sung under her window because in his country everybody
sang and played, and it was no unusual attention for any gentleman to
pay the compliment of a personal serenade. Still he had avoided, as he
thought, all recognition until the night he found Gleason creeping upon
him. At mention of that name his paroxysms broke forth afresh. Never,
never could he forgive himself for the fearful misery he had caused her.
Never, never would he forgive the hound who had so basely dealt with
her. "He shall wipe out his foul crime in his heart's blood," he swore,
and Ray had to order silence. He gave Ray his word that never again
would he be tempted to write a line; he implored him to ask for him her
forgiveness. Never again would he cross her path. His grief broke forth
afresh every few moments, and he was weak as a child. Ray became really
alarmed about him, and going into the dining-room where he and Blake
were accustomed to take their bachelor sustenance, he rummaged around in
the dark for some brandy. Of late he had given up all use of stimulants,
and Blake was down at the store. It was some minutes before he found the
decanter, but when he retur