range expression, put it mechanically in her pocket, and then
looking up at him said, with a forced laugh, "I suppose that means I am
to clear out?"

"Until to-morrow," he said shortly.

"If the Sacramento don't sweep us away before then," she interrupted,
with a reckless laugh; "the river's broken through the levee--a clear
sweep in two places. Where I live the water's up to the doorstep. They
say it's going to be the biggest flood yet. You're all right here;
you're on higher ground."

She seemed to utter these sentences abstractedly, disconnectedly, as if
to gain time. He made an impatient gesture.

"All right, I'm going," she said, compressing her lips slowly to keep
them from trembling. "You haven't forgotten anything?" As he turned half
angrily towards her she added, hurriedly and bitterly, "Anything--for
to-morrow?"

"No!"

She opened the door and passed out. He listened until the trail of
her wet skirt had descended the stairs, and the street door had closed
behind her. Then he went back to his table and began collecting his
papers and putting them away in his trunks, which he packed feverishly,
yet with a set and determined face. He wrote one or two letters, which
he sealed and left upon his table. He then went to his bedroom and
deliberately shaved off his disguising beard. Had he not been so
preoccupied in one thought, he might have been conscious of loud voices
in the street and a hurrying of feet on the wet sidewalk. But he was
possessed by only one idea. He must see his wife that evening! How, he
knew not yet, but the way would appear when he had reached his office
in the building opposite hers. Three hours had elapsed before he had
finished his preparations. On going downstairs he stopped to give some
directions to the porter, but his room was empty; passing into the
street he was surprised to find it quite deserted, and the shops closed;
even a drinking saloon at the corner was quite empty. He turned the
corner of the street, and began the slight descent towards his office.
To his amazement the lower end of the street, which was crossed by
the thoroughfare which was his destination, was blocked by a crowd of
people. As he hurried forward to join them he suddenly saw, moving
down that thoroughfare, what appeared to his startled eyes to be the
smokestacks of some small, flat-bottomed steamer. He rubbed his eyes; it
was no illusion, for the next moment he had reached the crowd, who were
standing half