He now recalled a strange statement that Samuel Anderson made in discharging him.

"You said what you had no right to say about my wife, in talking to Julia." What had he said?
Only that some woman had not treated Andrew "just right." Who the woman might be he had not known until his present interview with Andrew.

Had Julia been making mischief herself by repeating his words and giving them a direction he had not intended?
He could not have dreamed of her acting such a part but for the strange influence of Andrew's strange story.

And so he staggered on, wet to the skin, defying in his heart the lightning and the wind, until he came to the cabin of his father.

Climbing the fence, for there was no gate, he pulled the latch-string and entered.