nd then watched him as he read
it, white the veins on his forehead began to swell until they stood out
like a dark blue net-work against his otherwise pallid face.

'Yes,' he snapped between his white teeth. 'I did ask her to be my wife,
and she refused, and with her soft, kittenish ways made me more in love
with her than ever, and more her dupe. I never suspected Harold, and
when I told him of my disappointment, for I never kept a thing from
him--traitor that he was--he laughed at me for losing my heart to my
housekeeper's daughter! I, who, he said, might marry the greatest lady
in the land. I could have knocked him down for his sneer at Amy, and I
wish now I had, the wretch! He will not marry your daughter, madam; and
if he does not I will kill him!'

He was certainly mad, and Mrs. Crawford shrank away from him an from
something dangerous, and going to her room took her bed in a fit of
frightful hysterics. This was followed by a state of nervous
prostration, and for a few days she neither saw, nor heard of, nor
inquired for Mr. Tracy. At the end of the fourth day, however, she was
told by the house-maid that he had that morning packed his valise and,
without a word to any one, had taken the train for New York. A week went
by, and then there came a letter from him, which ran as follows:

'New York, May ----, 18--.

'Mrs. Crawford:--I am off for Europe to-morrow, and when I shall
return is a matter of uncertainty. They are married; or at least I
suppose so, for I found a list of the passengers who sailed in the
Scotia, and the names, Mr. and Mrs. Hastings, were in it. So that
saves me from breaking the sixth commandment, as I should have done
if he hid played Amy false. I may not make myself known to them, but
I shall follow them, and if he harms a hair of her head I shall
shoot him yet. My brother Frank is to live at Tracy Park. That will
suit his wife, and as you will not care to stay with her, I send you
a deed of that cottage in the lane by the wood where the gardener
now lives. It is a pretty little place, and Amy liked it well. We
used to meet there sometimes, and more than once I have sat with her
on that seat under the elm tree, and it was there I asked her to be
my wife. Alas! I loved her so much, and I love her still as I can
never love another woman, and I could have made her so happy; but
that is past, and I can only watch her at a distan