Cedarville, stood face to face with her before. Oh! what a wreck
she presented, with her pale, shrunken countenance, hollow,
lustreless eyes, and bent, feeble body. I almost shuddered as I
looked at her. What a haunting and sternly rebuking spectre she
must have moved, daily, before the eyes of her husband.

"Have you noticed Mr. Green about this morning"?" I asked.

"He hasn't come down from his room yet," she replied.

"Are you certain?" said my companion. "I knocked several times at
the door just now, but received no answer."

"What do you want with him?" asked Mrs. Slade, fixing her eyes
upon us.

"We are in search of Willy Hammond; and it has been suggested that
he was with Green."

"Knock twice lightly, and then three times more firmly," said Mrs.
Slade; and as she spoke, she glided past us with noiseless tread.

"Shall we go up together?"

I did not object; for, although I had no delegated right of
intrusion, my feelings were so much excited in the case, that I
went forward, scarcely reflecting on the propriety of so doing.

The signal knock found instant answer. The door was softly opened,
and the unshaven face of Simon Slade presented itself.