I shall be gone two or three days." The deep flush which excitement had spread over the face of Mrs.
Abercrombie faded off, and the deadly pallor returned.

Her hands shook so that the letter dropped out of them and fell to the floor.

Another groan as of a breaking heart sobbed through her lips as she threw herself in despairing abandonment across the bed and buried her face deep among the pillows.
She needed no interpreter to unfold the true meaning of that letter.
Its unsteady and blotted words and its scrawled, uncertain signature told her too well of her husband's sad condition.

His old enemy had stricken him down, his old strong, implacable enemy, always armed, always lying in wait for him, and always ready for the unguarded moment..