“Are you sure?”
“Positive. I should know, as I am his wife.”
“But he will return soon?” eagerly asked the man.
“No; perhaps not for several weeks.”
“Dios mio! How unfortunate for me! The train I came on from Boston broke down a league from here, and in my haste to reach this place in season to catch him ere he departed, I hired this horse and came in the saddle.”
“What a pity you arrived too late!”
“Yes, indeed; for it is with me a matter of life or death.”
“I am astonished.”
“He has, of course, gone in his new flying machine?”
“Exactly so, sir.”