“Alice, Alice!� a voice called in her ear. “Alice, where are you? All in the dark by yourself?� Then, as the visitor nearly stumbled over the heap upon the floor, he started back involuntarily. “Great Heavens! What has happened? What is the matter? Alice, can this be you upon the floor? Why, child, what has happened? Did I startle you by coming sooner than you expected?�
Mark Cramer, with anxious countenance, bent over the cowering figure of his wife.
Her face was still buried in her hands, her frame shaking, her whole attitude one of extreme fear.
Mark’s heart sank with a fear of unknown dangers. This was a strange welcome after his long absence.
Alice’s letter had, it is true, prepared him to find her ill, perhaps only depressed, for he had noted the dejection of spirits in the written words, but he could account for that; but could this shrinking, cowering creature be his formerly light-hearted and happy wife? Surely he had expected nothing like this.
Nothing less than a serious nerve shock could have caused this condition. From what source could the shock have come? Could it be, Alice had brooded in her cabin until she had become insane? These and a hundred other thoughts rushed through his brain in the space of a moment as he bent over the abject form of his wife.
“Alice, dear Alice, have you no welcome for me after all these long months?�
Mark tried to raise her, but she shrank back from him, limp and helpless, yet trembling as with palsy.
“Alice, do you know me? Have you lost your mind? My God, what a home-coming is this! You surely are not afraid of me, Mark? Speak to me, Alice.�
She looked up at him with dazed eyes and tried to speak, but her lips would not obey her will.