The gentleman immediately returned to the supper-room.  As he joined the company there he met a friend to whom he said in a half-confidential way:  “Do you know anything about General Abercrombie’s relations with his wife?

“What do you mean?” inquired the friend, with evident surprise.

“I saw something just now that looks very suspicious.”

“What?”

“I came here with Mrs. Abercrombie a little while ago, and was engaged in helping her, when I saw her face grow deadly pale.  Following her eyes, I observed them fixed on the general, who was chatting gayly and taking wine with a lady.”

“What! taking wine did you say?”

The gentleman was almost as much surprised at the altered manner of his friend as he had been with that of Mrs. Abercrombie: 

“Yes; anything strange in that?”

“Less strange than sad, was replied.  “I don’t wonder you saw the color go out of Mrs. Abercrombie’s face.”

“Why so?  What does it mean?”

“It means sorrow and heartbreak.”

“You surprise and pain me.  I thought of the lady by his side, not of the glass of wine in his hand.”

The two men left the crowded supper-room in order to be more alone.

“You know something of the general’s life and habits?”

“Yes.”

“He has not been intemperate, I hope?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, I am pained to hear you say so.”

“Drink is his besetting sin, the vice that has more than once come near leading to his dismissal from the army.  He is one of the men who cannot use wine or spirits in moderation.  In consequence of some diseased action of the nutritive organs brought on by drink, he has lost the power of self-control when under the influence of alcoholic stimulation.  He is a dypso-maniac.  A glass of wine or brandy to him is like the match to a train of powder.  I don’t wonder, knowing what I do about General Abercrombie, that his wife grew deadly pale to-night when she saw him raise a glass to his lips.”

“Has he been abstaining for any length of time?”

“Yes; for many months he has kept himself free.  I am intimate with an officer who told me all about him.  When not under the influence of drink, the general is one of the kindest-hearted men in the world.  To his wife he is tender and indulgent almost to a fault, if that were possible.  But liquor seems to put the devil into him.  Drink drowns his better nature and changes him into a half-insane fiend.  I am told that he came near killing his wife more than once in a drunken phrensy.”

“You pain me beyond measure.  Poor lady!  I don’t wonder that the life went out of her so suddenly, nor at the terror I saw in her face.  Can nothing be done?  Has he no friends here who will draw him out of the supper-room and get him away before he loses control of himself?”

“It is too late.  If he has begun to drink, it is all over.  You might as well try to draw off a wolf who has tasted blood.”