'Yes,' he snapped between his white teeth. 'I did ask her to be my wife,
and she refused, and with her soft, kittenish ways made me more in love
with her than ever, and more her dupe. I never suspected Harold, and
when I told him of my disappointment, for I never kept a thing from
him--traitor that he was--he laughed at me for losing my heart to my
housekeeper's daughter! I, who, he said, might marry the greatest lady
in the land. I could have knocked him down for his sneer at Amy, and I
wish now I had, the wretch! He will not marry your daughter, madam; and
if he does not I will kill him!'
He was certainly mad, and Mrs. Crawford shrank away from him an from
something dangerous, and going to her room took her bed in a fit of
frightful hysterics. This was followed by a state of nervous
prostration, and for a few days she neither saw, nor heard of, nor
inquired for Mr. Tracy. At the end of the fourth day, however, she was
told by the house-maid that he had that morning packed his valise and,
without a word to any one, had taken the train for New York. A week went
by, and then there came a letter from him, which ran as follows:
'New York, May ----, 18--.
'Mrs. Crawford:--I am off for Europe to-morrow, and when I shall
return is a matter of uncertainty.
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