"'It was impossible for me to get here before,' he said gravely.
"I nodded impatiently, and then, with an awkward, consciousness that something was due to him, I touched his black coat.
"'You have had a loss," I said.
"'You will hear sad news presently,' he answered, 'and you must prepare yourself for it. But tell me first of your troubles here. I was so harassed and grieved at the time your letter arrived that I hardly understood it; and then I laid it aside and could not find it again.'
"Curbing my impatience, for he insisted upon my exposing the full extent of my misfortunes, I related to him briefly the result of my mad venture.
"'And you are utterly ruined?' he said.
"'Utterly, utterly ruined,' I replied. 'Enough of myself for the present. Tell me of my wife.'
"His countenance fell. There was a significance in his manner which profoundly agitated me. Eager for an answer, and dreading it, I asked him why he did not speak.
"'It is cruel,' he murmured, his face still averted from me, 'at such a time, when you have lost every hope in life, to say what I have come to say. We will speak together to-morrow.'
"'We will speak together now!' I cried, seizing him by the arm, and compelling him to turn toward me. 'Do you think that anything you can say, any message you may bring from her, can add to the misery and degradation of my position? Tell me of my wife!'