CHAPTER XII.
THE MOTHER-IN-LAW.
When Henry returned home, he found his wife seated at the window, awaiting his approach.

Secret grief was gnawing at her heart.

Her sad, pale cheeks and swollen eyes showed too well that agony, far deeper than her speech portrayed, filled her heart.

A dull and death-like silence prevailed on his entrance.

His pale face and brow, dishevelled hair, and the feeling that he manifested on finding Gertrude still up, told Henry in plainer words than she could have used that his wife, was aware that her love had never been held sacred by him.