“I would not, if I were you, madam, attempt to look further for your husband.  I have just learned that he is safe and well, only a little overcome, by having, accidentally, I have no doubt, drunken a little too freely.  In the, morning he will come home, and all will, I trust, be right again.”

“What you say, I know, is meant in kindness, Mr.—­,” Mrs. Marshall replied, in a firmer tone, the assurance that her husband was at least safe from external danger, being some relief to her, “but I would rather see my husband, and have him taken home.  Home is the best place for him, under any circumstances—­and I am the most fitting one to attend to him.  Will you, then, do me the favour to procure a hack, and go with me to the place where he is to be found?”

Mr.—­saw that in the manner and tone of Mrs. Marshall which made him at once resolve to do as she wished him.  The hack was procured, into which both entered.  Directions were given, in a low tone, to the driver, and then they rattled away over the resounding pavement, for a space of time that seemed very long to the anxious wife.  At last the hack stopped, the door was opened, and the steps thrown down.  When Mrs. Marshall descended, she found herself in a narrow, dark street, before a low, dirty-looking tavern, the windows and doors of which had been closed for the night.

While Mr.—­was knocking loudly for admission, her eyes, growing familiar with the darkness, saw something lying partly upon the street and partly upon the pavement a few yards from her, that grew more and more distinct, the more intently she looked at it.  Advancing a few steps, she saw that it was the body of a man,—­a few paces further, revealed to her eyes the form of her husband.  An exclamation of surprise and alarm brought both Mr.—­and the hack-driver to her side.

In attempting to raise Marshall to his feet, he groaned heavily, and writhed with a sensation of pain.  Something dark upon the pavement attracted the eye of his wife.  She touched it with her hand, to which it adhered, with a moist, oily feeling.  Hurrying to the lamp in front of the hack, with a feeling of sudden alarm, she lifted her hand so that the light could fall upon it.  It was covered with blood!

With a strong effort, she kept down the sudden impulse that she felt to utter a wild scream, and went back to Mr.—­and communicated to him the alarming fact she had discovered.  Marshall was at once laid gently down upon the pavement, and a light procured, which showed that his pantaloons, above, below, and around the knees, were saturated with blood.

“O, Mr.—! what can be the matter?” Mrs. Marshall said, in husky tones, looking up, with a face blanched to an ashy paleness.

“Some passing vehicle has, no doubt, run over him—­but I trust that he is not much hurt.  Remain here with him, until I can procure assistance, and have him taken home.”

“O, sir, go quickly!” the poor wife replied, in earnest tones.