"’Perhaps,’ I said, ’you will tell me first of all what you have done, then I will tell you what I have done, and possibly the meaning may come.’ "’Firstly,’ he exclaimed, ’will you explain how you can have run off with my wife when you are here, and she is not? Where is she?’ "I felt aggravated, and therefore inclined to be aggravating. ’I left her,’ I answered, ’as you know is generally the end of man’s inconsistency in this case.’ "’This is ridiculous!’ he replied, a dangerous light coming into his eyes. ’If you don’t take care you will tempt me too far!’ "I felt nothing would please me more than to get him to murder me, then after he had been hanged Vera might go free. "’I hope,’ I said, ’you like your wedding trip, you coward. Who, half drunken with the father’s wine, made a stage-play scene for the benefit of his child, when her very innocence should have protected her? Who lied about his private property, when he was in reality a beggar and will soon be a bankrupt? Who at last decided to marry in the hope of living on his wife’s fortune?’ "He had come nearer and was now standing over me; his hand was on my throat; but for his natural cowardice he would have strangled me. His eyes glared down with fiendish anger! "’You devil!’ he cried, ’for devil I believe you are! Curse you! Curse you!’ "’I have still a trifle of news left, it may be a comfort for you to reflect upon it,’ I said. ’Mr. Soudin is as badly off as you are. I heard the newsboy shouting that an unlimited bank has failed in which he is considerably interested. Probably if your mortgagees are merciful he may be bankrupt before you even now!’ "Vancome looked at me for a moment, then, seeming satisfied that as I knew so much it might be safe to rely upon me even in this, sank back in his chair. The last blow had tamed him. He was not only robbed of his wife, but what to him seemed far worse, utterly ruined, with or without her; cut off from his long-cherished hope of redeeming his fortune by marriage. I felt toward him almost a sensation of pity. "After a pause he muttered, ’I cannot believe it! Some one told me that Soudin was very wealthy--a regular miser, rolling in gold! Look here,’ he continued, turning to me, but the anger had left his face. ’Tell me plainly, how do you know all these things? How did you know we were here? What have you done with Vera? And why in the name of fortune are you travelling with me to America?’ "I should have been a good deal puzzled to reply to the last question, and had no intention of answering the three others, so I remained silent. At this moment the doctor entered, and I expressed a wish to speak to him alone. Vancome left us evidently unwillingly.