.

THE STRANGER.
The two friends looked at each other in impressive silence for a moment, and spake never a word.

Not that they were astonished--they were long past the power of that emotion: and if a cloud had dropped from the sky at their feet, they would probably have looked at it passively, and vaguely wonder if the rest would follow.

Sir Norman, especially, had sank into a state of mind that words are faint and feeble to describe.
Ormiston, not being quite so far gone, was the first to open his lips.
"Upon my honor, Sir Norman, this is the most astonishing thing ever I heard of.

That certainly was the face of our half-dead bride! What, in the name of all the gods, can it mean, I wonder ?" "I have given up wondering," said Sir Norman, in the same helpless tone.
"And if the earth was to open and swallow London up, I should not be the least surprised.