He had come into _my room!_ The unexpectedness of it--the horror--the insult roused me from my stupor.

I sprang up to face him, and there he stood, within arm's reach of me, a look in his face which told me at last the truth which I had failed to suspect--or fear.

His arms were reaching out-- "'You are my wife,' he said.
"Oh, I knew, then.

'_You are my wife_,' he repeated.

I wanted to scream, but I couldn't; and then--then--his arms reached me; I felt them crushing around me like the coils of a great snake; the poison of his lips was at my face--and I believed that I was lost, and that no power could save me in this hour from the man who had come to my room--the man who was my husband.