“Is marm here?” inquired a coarse voice at the door, and a red, chubby face was thrust in the narrow opening.

“Why, Josiah Turner, I told you ter go ter bed an hour ago.  Well, I must go, Miss Evans.  I ’spose my boy won’t go without me,” and taking her son by the hand, she departed.

“A storm upon their domestic horizon, I fear, is coming, if not already there,” said Miss Evans, setting down and resting her lead upon her hands.  “I wish he had not come.  Something may be charged to me-but why should I fear.  I have said simply what I felt was right.  I must expect to encounter many storms in this voyage whose haven of peace is-where?  None knoweth.”

She fastened her door, and after lifting her heart in prayer for guidance, retired.

Mr. Deane found his wife alone when he returned, and one could have seen by his manner how glad he was to find her so.

“It seems a month, Mabel, since I have seen you alone.”

She only remarked that she feared her parents felt his absence from home.

“I do think, Howard,” she continued, “that you could give us a little of your time.  It is due to my parents.  It must seem to them that you willingly absent yourself, and it is hard for me to convince them to the contrary.”

“I am sorry that any such impression should have worked its way into their minds.  They ought to know that it is quite a sacrifice for me to devote myself so closely to business.  I hope, Mabel, you are wrongly impressed as regards them, and it may be that your own state has more to do with it than theirs.  This is the first evening I have had to myself since they have been here.”

“And why was this not spent at home?”

“Because I cannot assume to be what I am not, and you know I am not at rest; that our harmony is disturbed.  Could I have seen you alone, I should have been at home before this.”

“You have sought society, I suppose, more congenial?”

“Mabel, be careful.  You may so unnerve me that I may say much that I shall be sorry for.”

“Howard?”

“Well, Mabel.”

“I think I shall return with father and mother.  They will go home day after to-morrow.”

He did not raise his eyes, nor appear in the least anxious to detain her, but merely said: 

“Where are they this evening?”

“At Mrs. Norton’s.  They went to tea.  I felt too ill to accompany them.”

“Are you very ill, Mabel?”

“I feel far from well, and yet it does not seem to be from physical indisposition.  It is something deeper.”

“True, my poor wife, we have become estranged; and what has caused it?”

She looked thoughtfully at him a moment, but no answer came from her lips.

“I think we had better part awhile.  It will do us both good.”

She started, scarce expecting such a remark from him.

“Then my presence has, indeed, become irksome to you?” Her tone and manner implied more than she cared to display.