Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: V THE SKELETON AT THE FEAST Business detained Denning in New York longer then he anticipated and it was not until the evening of the third day that he finally found himself aboard the Western Express. Body and brain were nearly exhausted with weariness, but before retiring for the night, he went into the smoker and withdrawing as far as possible from the other occupants, gave himself up to his cigar and reflection. Not until that moment had he known how wearied he was, and not until a half hour later, as he listened abstractedly to the rhythmic pulsations of the mighty mechanism, throbbing with an almost sentient life, did he become distinctly conscious of a sense of relief, deepening into an intense satisfaction, as he realized that each revolution of the wheels was speeding him farther and farther from scenes which had evoked only unpleasant memories. As he recalled the three days since his landing, he seemed like a man awakening from a nightmare against which he has been futilely struggling. He could scarcely account now for the vague, haunting fear which had taken and held possession of him on his return ; the dread of some question or comment, some unlocked for event, some sudden, unwelcome recognition, which might betray his secret—or, at least,its existence—and which, had led him. to avoid his old associates, and even to covertly scan the faces of the hurrying, thronging crowds. Perhaps he had been morbidly sensitive; it seemed so, now that the incubus was lifted and he could again breathe easily. He had committed no crime, that he should feel like a fugitive with a price upon his head ; only an indiscretion—common enough, heaven knows !—for which he had made abundant reparation. Ah ! how the thought of that stung, even yet! That wretched mesalliance ! What if he h...