He said in his telegram, "Send to meet _us_." What does that mean, if not a wife ?' 'A wife! Oh, Frank!' and with a great gasp Dolly sank down upon the lounge near where she was standing, and actually went into the hysterics her husband had prophesied.
In reading the telegram she had not noticed the little monosyllable '_us_,' which was now affecting her so powerfully.

Of course it meant a wife and possibly children, and her day was surely over at Tracy Park.
It was in vain that her husband tried to comfort her, saying that they knew nothing positively, except that Arthur was coming home and somebody was coming with him; it might be a friend, or, what was more likely, it might be a valet; and at all events he was not going to cross Fox River till he reached it, when he might find a bridge across it.
But Frank's reasoning did not console his wife, whose hysterical fit was succeeded by a racking headache, which by night was almost unbearable.
Strong coffee, aconite, brandy, and belladonna, were all tried without effect.

Nothing helped her until she commenced her toilet, when in the excitement of dressing she partly forgot her disquietude, and the pain in her head grew leas.

Still she was conscious of a feeling of wretchedness and regret as she sat in her handsome boudoir and felt that it might be for the last time--that on the morrow another would be mistress where she had reigned so long.
It was known in the house that Arthur was expected, and some one with him, but no hint had been given of a wife, and Mrs.Tracy had ordered separate rooms prepared for the strangers, who were to arrive on the half-past ten train.

How she should manage to keep up and appear natural until that time Mrs.Tracy did not know, and her face and eyes wore an anxious, frightened look, which all her finery could not hide.