“Yes, I can.”

“Where can I find my wife?” asked Cook, with much eagerness.

Carl hesitated.  He did not like his stepmother; he felt that she had treated him meanly, but he was not prepared to reveal her present residence till he knew what course Cook intended to pursue.

“She is married again,” he said, watching Cook to see what effect this announcement might have upon him.

“I have no objection, I am sure,” responded Cook, indifferently.  “Did she marry well?”

“She married a man in good circumstances.”

“She would take good care of that.”

“Then you don’t intend to reclaim her?”

“How can I?  She obtained a divorce, though by false representations.  I am glad to be rid of her, but I want her to restore the two thousand dollars of which she robbed me.  I left my property in her hands, but when she ceased to be my wife she had no right to take possession of it.  I ought not to be surprised, however.  It wasn’t the first theft she had committed.”

“Can this be true?” asked Carl, excited.

“Yes, I married her without knowing much of her antecedents.  Two years after marriage I ascertained that she had served a year’s term of imprisonment for a theft of jewelry from a lady with whom she was living as housekeeper.”

“Are you sure of this?”

“Certainly.  She was recognized by a friend of mine, who had been an official at the prison.  When taxed with it by me she admitted it, but claimed that she was innocent.  I succeeded in finding a narrative of the trial in an old file of papers, and came to the conclusion that she was justly convicted.”

“What did you do?”

“I proposed separation, but she begged me to keep the thing secret, and let ourselves remain the same as before.  I agreed out of consideration for her, but had occasion to regret it.  My business becoming slack, I decided to go to California in the hope of acquiring a competence.  I was not fortunate there, and was barely able, after a year, to get home.  I found that my wife had procured a divorce, and appropriated the little money I had left.  Where she had gone, or where she had conveyed our son, I could not learn.  You say you know where she is.”

“I do.”

“Will you tell me?”

“Mr. Cook,” said Carl, after a pause for reflection, “I will tell you, but not just at present.  I am on my way to Chicago on business.  On my return I will stop here, and take you with me to the present home of your former wife.  You will understand my interest in the matter when I tell you that she is now married to a relative of my own.”

“I pity him whoever he is,” said Cook.

“Yes, I think he is to be pitied,” said Carl, gravely; “but the revelation you will be able to make will enable him to insist upon a separation.”

“The best thing he can do!  How long before you return to Albany?”