e previous night, had been one blaze of light in honor
of the State dinner. Now, as well as he could see dimly through the
falling snow, it was all closed up, and men on ladders were festooning
every row of windows with black goods.

"Yes, of course. It is as I expected. The news has gone all over the
town already," said old Aaron Rockharrt, as he strode through the
snowstorm to the business center of the city.

Every acquaintance whom he met stopped him with the same question in
slightly different words.

"Have you heard?" and so forth.

Every intimate friend he encountered asked:

"How does Mrs. Rothsay bear it?" or--

"What on earth ever took the governor out there?"

To all questions the Iron King gave curt answers that discouraged
discussion of the subject. He walked on, noticing that the stores and
offices of the city were being festooned with mourning, and that
notwithstanding the severity of the storm the street corners were
occupied by groups talking excitedly of the fatal news.

He went into the editorial rooms of all the city newspapers and wished
and attempted to dictate to the proprietors the manner in which they
should write of the tragic event which was then in the minds and on the
tongues of all persons.

As he spent an hour on the average at each office, it was late in the
winter afternoon when he got home. It was not yet dark, however, and he
was surprised to see a man servant engaged in closing the shutters.

He entered and demanded severely why the servant shut the windows before
night.

The old man looked nervous and distressed, and answered vaguely:

"It is the missus, sah."

The idea that his wife should take the liberty of ordering the house to
be closed for the night at this unusual hour of the afternoon, without
his authority, enraged him:

"Help me off with my ulster," he said.

When the servant had performed this office the master said:

"Serve dinner at once."

And then he strode into the back parlor, which was the usual sitting
room of his wife and granddaughter. The room was empty and darkened.
More than ever infuriated by fatigue, hunger, and the supposed disregard
of his authority, he came out and walked up stairs to look for his wife
in her own room. He pushed open the door and entered. That room was also
dark, only for the faint red light that came from the coal fire in the
grate. By this he dimly perceived a female form sitting near the bed,
and whom he supposed