words hurriedly
to her husband, and then drew him from the parlor.

"What's the matter?" asked Mr. Elliott, crossing over and speaking to
the gentleman against whom the anger of General Abercrombie had seemed
to be directed.

"Heaven knows," was answered, "unless he's jealous of his wife."

"Very strange conduct," said one.

"Been drinking too much," remarked another.

"What did he do?" inquired a third.

"Didn't you see it? Mr. Ertsen was promenading with Mrs. Abercrombie,
when the general swept down upon them as fierce as a lion and took the
lady from his arm."

This was exaggeration. The thing was done more quietly, but still with
enough of anger and menace to create something more than a ripple on
the surface.

A little while afterward the general and Mrs. Abercrombie were seen
coming down stairs and going along the hall. His face was rigid and
stern. He looked neither to the right nor the left, but with eyes set
forward made his way toward the street door. Those who got a glimpse of
Mrs. Abercrombie as she glided past saw a face that haunted them a long
time afterward.

CHAPTER XIII.

AS General and Mrs. Abercrombie reached the vestibule, and the door
shut behind them, the latter, seeing, that her husband was going out
into the storm, which was now at its height, drew back, asking at the
same time if their carriage had been called.

The only answer made by General Abercrombie was a fiercely-uttered
imprecation. Seizing at the same time the arm she had dropped from his,
he drew her out of the vestibule and down the snow-covered step with a
sudden violence that threw her to the ground. As he dragged her up he
cursed her again in a cruel undertone, and then, grasping her arm,
moved off in the very teeth of the blinding tempest, going so swiftly
that she could not keep pace with him. Before they had gone a dozen
steps she fell again.

Struggling to her feet, helped up by the strong grasp of the madman
whose hand was upon her arm, Mrs. Abercrombie tried to rally her
bewildered thoughts. She knew that her life was in danger, but she knew
also that much, if not everything, depended on her own conduct. The
very extremity of her peril calmed her thoughts and gave them clearness
and decision. Plunging forward as soon as his wife could recover
herself again, General Abercrombie strode away with a speed that made
it almost impossible for her to move on without falling, especially as
the snow was lying