rner to the other side of the street and
walked back. When nearly opposite the house referred to the door opened
and a young woman, alone, whom he knew to be Clara, came out. She
hurried forward only a few steps when Holstrom wheeled around and
addressed her; and having received her hand on his arm they glided
hastily along the street. Frederick was startled at the reality. His
blood flooded in tidal waves to his heart. His nerves quivered. His soul
became exasperated. He inwardly threatened immediate violence to both
parties. But having hastily checked the outpourings of his resentment he
secretly followed them, yet still breathing volumes of deprecations
which rose in steaming vapor from his phrenzied brain.

"Can it be possible?" he soliloquised, "that Clara has been practising
deception upon my faithful affection? I have discovered when too late
that she has flattered my fond heart with her insidious wiles. I loved
her once, I despise her now. She has got rid of her child, and she is
now trying to dispose of me also. Ah! the syren that she is! No longer
shall I breathe her name but with feelings of hatred and disgust. Ah!
that villain too, who is leading her headlong to her own ruin! I hate
him also. His affection towards me as a friend and companion has only
served as a mantle to cover his deceitful heart. He is a serpent more
subtle and venomous than that which entered the Garden of Eden. Ah! the
vile wretch that he is! The deed is too base to forgive. I spurn the
debased villain. I shall humble his proud heart. I shall crush him to
the earth. I shall have revenge upon his guilty head. Revenge, revenge I
must have!"

In this excited state of feelings poor Frederick followed them
unperceived to the very doorsteps of her home. His impulses had made him
recklessly desperate. His savage nature was aroused. He was, indeed, no
longer himself. Like a wild beast he was ready to spring upon them, and
would have done so had not the uprisings of his moral nature suggested
to him not to do so.

He heard for a while the lively chit-chat within--the humorous joke--the
joy-excited laughter, all of which only aroused his indignation to
greater fierceness. But at that moment, when ready to put his threats
into execution the right hand of his soul arrested suddenly the uplifted
weapon of his evil heart. He wheeled about as if it were instinctively,
fled from the house, and directed his course homeward with hasty steps.

Having