carriedit off. Not being an honest man, he preferred to keep it to drawing theattention of the police upon himself."
"Hum, perhaps," said I; "but where did _you_ get it. Surely you can tellwhere you procured such a weapon, if, as your wife intimates, you didnot own one."
"I bought it that self-same night of a friend; a friend whom I will notname, since he resides no longer in this country. I----" He paused;intense passion was in his face; he turned towards his wife, and a lowcry escaped him, which made her look up in fear.
"I do not wish to go into any particulars," said he. "God forsook me andI committed a horrible crime. When I am punished, perhaps peace willreturn to me and happiness to her. I would not wish her to suffer toolong or too bitterly for my sin."
"Constant!" What love was in the cry! and what despair! It seemed tomove him and turn his thoughts for a moment into a different channel.
"Poor child!" he murmured, stretching out his hands by an irresistibleimpulse towards her. But the change was but momentary, and he was soonagain the stern and determined self-accuser. "Are you going to take mebefore a magistrate?" he asked. "If so, I have a few duties to performwhich you are welcome to witness."
"I have no warrant," I said; "besides, I am scarcely the one to takesuch a responsibility upon myself. If, however, you persist in yourdeclaration, I will communicate with my superiors, who will take suchaction as they think best."
"That will be still more satisfactory to me," said he; "for though Ihave many times contemplated giving myself up to the authorities, I havestill much to do before I can leave my home and practice without injuryto others. Good-day; when you want me, you will find me here."
He was gone, and the poor young wife was left crouching on the flooralone. Pitying her shame and terror, I ventured to remark that it wasnot an uncommon thing for a man to confess to a crime he had nevercommitted, and assured her that the matter would be inquired into verycarefully before any attempt was made upon his liberty.
She thanked me, and, slowly rising, tried to regain her equanimity; butthe manner as well as the matter of her husband's self-condemnation wastoo overwhelming in its nature for her to recover readily from heremotions.
"I have long dreaded this," she acknowledged. "For months I haveforeseen that he would make some rash communication or insane avowal. IfI had dared, I would have consulted some physician about thishallucination of his; but he was so sane on other points that Ihesitated to give my dreadful secret to the world. I kept hoping thattime and his daily pursuits would have their effect and restore him tohimself. But his illusion grows, and now I fear that nothing will everconvince him that he did not commit the deed of which he accuseshimself. If he were not blind I would have more hope, but the blind haveso much time for brooding."
"I think he had better be indulged in his fancies for the present," Iventured. "If he is laboring under an illusion it might be dangerous tocross him."
"_If?_" she echoed in an indescribable tone of amazement and dread. "Canyou for a moment harbor the idea that he has spoken the truth?"
"Madam," I returned, with something of the cynicism of my later years,"what caused you to give such an unearthly scream just before thismurder was made known to the neighborhood?"
She stared, paled, and finally began to tremble, not, as I now believe,at the insinuation latent in my words, but at the doubts which myquestion aroused in her own breast.
"Did I?" she asked; then with a great burst of candor, which seemedinseparable from her nature, she continued: "Why do I try to mislead youor deceive myself? I did give a shriek just before the alarm was raisednext door; but it was not from any knowledge I had of a crime havingbeen committed, but because I unexpectedly saw before me my husband whomI supposed to be on his way to Poughkeepsie. He was looking very paleand strange, and for a moment I thought I was beholding his ghost. Buthe soon explained his appearance by saying that he had fallen from thetrain and had been only saved by a miracle from being dismembered; andI was just bemoaning his mishap and trying to calm him and myself, whenthat terrible shout was heard next door of 'Murder! murder!' Coming sosoon after the shock he had himself experienced, it quite unnerved him,and I think we can date his mental disturbance from that moment. For hebegan almost immediately to take a morbid interest in the affair nextdoor, though it was weeks, if not months, before he let a word fall ofthe nature of those you have just heard. Indeed it was not till Irepeated to him some of the expressions he was continually letting fallin his sleep, that he commenced to accuse himself of crime and talk ofretribution."
"You say that your husband frightened you on that night by appearingsuddenly at the door when you thought him on his way to Poughkeepsie. IsDr. Zabriskie in the habit of thus going and coming alone at an hour solate as this must have been?"
"You forget that to the blind, night is less full of perils than theday. Often and often has my husband found his way to his patients'houses alone after midnight; but on this especial evening he had Harrywith him. Harry was his driver, and always accompanied him when he wentany distance."
"Well, then," said I, "all we have to do is to summon Harry and hearwhat he has to say concerning this affair. He surely will know whetheror not his master went into the house next door."
"Harry has left us," she said. "Dr. Zabriskie has another driver now.Besides--(I have nothing to conceal from you)--Harry was not with him whenhe returned to the house that evening, or the Doctor would not have beenwithout his portmanteau till the next day. Something--I have never knownwhat--caused them to separate, and that is why I have no answer to givethe Doctor when he accuses himself of committing a deed on that nightwhich is wholly out of keeping with every other act of his life."
"And have you never questioned Harry why they separated and why heallowed his master to come home alone after the shock he had received atthe station?"
"I did not know there was any reason for doing so till long after heleft us."
"And when did he leave?"
"That I do not remember. A few weeks or possibly a few days after thatdreadful night."
"And where is he now?"
"Ah, that I have not the least means of knowing. But," she suddenlycried, "what do you want of Harry? If he did not follow Dr. Zabriskie tohis own door, he could tell us nothing that would convince my husbandthat he is laboring under an illusion."
"But he might tell us something which would convince us that Dr.Zabriskie was not himself after the accident, that he----"
"Hush!" came from her lips in imperious tones. "I will not believe thathe shot Mr. Hasbrouck even if you prove him to have been insane at thetime. How could he? My husband is blind. It would take a man of verykeen sight to force himself into a house that was closed for the night,and kill a man in the dark at one shot."
"Rather," cried a voice from the doorway, "it is only a blind man whocould do this. Those who trust to eyesight must be able to catch someglimpse of the mark they aim at, and this room, as I have been told, waswithout a glimmer of light. But the blind trust to sound, and as Mr.Hasbrouck spoke----"
"Oh!" burst from the horrified wife, "is there no one to stop him whenhe speaks like that?"
The Doctor, his Wife, and the Clock Page 4