"But it is far past midnight now," remarked the captain. "Is he in
the habit of remaining out late?"

"Sometimes," she faintly admitted. "Two or three times since his
marriage he has been out till one."

Were there other causes for the young bride's evident disappointment
and misery besides the one intimated? There certainly was some
excuse for thinking so.

Possibly some one of as may have shown his doubts in this regard,
for the woman before us suddenly broke forth with this vehement
assertion:

"Mr. Jeffrey was a loving husband to my sister. A very loving
husband," she emphasized. Then, growing desperately pale, she added,
"I have never known a better man," and stopped.

Some hidden anguish in this cry, some self-consciousness in this
pause, suggested to me a possibility which I was glad to see ignored
by the captain in his next question.

"When did you see your sister last?" he asked. "Were you at home
when she left her husband's house?"

"Alas!" she murmured. Then seeing that a more direct answer was
expected of her, she added with as little appearance of effort as
possible: "I was at home and I heard her go out. But I had no idea
that it was for any purpose other than to join some social gathering."