“My wife? Yes; may Heaven pity and forgive her! It was my wife.”

“Will you go to her?”

“Can it be true?”

“She lies in Bellevue Hospital, at the point of death.”

CHAPTER III.
THE ONLY WITNESS.

Mr. Parks seemed to be greatly agitated by this intelligence, and it was some time before he regained his self-command. Then Nick asked him how it happened he had had no suspicions on reading the description of the wounded woman in the morning papers.

“Read that,” he said, thrusting a paper into Nick’s hands. “Does that describe her?”

“It is all wrong,” said Nick.

“And that picture?”

“It is a pure fake. There has been no opportunity of getting a picture of her.”