body was derived, I'm sure, from the shock of noticing Boyde's well-fed appearance.... There were other things besides the spider, the mind, doubtless, being a little overwrought.
One of these "other things" was real--a yellow-haired woman who aired what the papers called her "shapely legs" in silk tights for a living. Pauline M---- was her name, and she was leading lady in the "Night Owls Company," then playing at Tony Pastor's Music Hall in 14th Street, or, perhaps, it was at Koster and Biel's Hall further up town. I have forgotten. In any case, Boyde had mentioned the Company to me in some connexion or other. He knew her.
Her visit to me has always seemed vague and hazy; shrouded in mist of some kind, the mist of my suffering mind, I imagine. There lies a feverish touch of fantasy all over it. It was on the evening of the second day since Boyde had disappeared, though I could have sworn that at least a week's loneliness had intervened. It was the second day, I know, because the doctor came on the fourth. During the afternoon an unintelligible telegram had come, sent from a Broadway office: "Don't be anxious--have surprising news for you--no drinking--home this afternoon.----B." There was not much comfort in it, though at least I knew then he had not been arrested, but an hour or so later a second telegram had arrived, sent from an office above 42nd Street: "Married Pauline this afternoon.----B." It all mystified, confused and troubled me extremely, and the strain on nerves and emotions had been so prolonged that, I think, I was half stupefied with it all, half stupid certainly.
At any rate, the visit always seemed a sort of unreal visit, veiled as it were, and shadowy. Two thoughts were in my mind when the knock sounded on the door: food and Boyde. I was always listening intently for his tread, but I was also listening for Mrs. Bernstein's footstep with a possible tray. It was after six o'clock; since coffee and bread at 8.30 in the morning I had eaten nothing, for our own supplies were finished. Instead of Boyde or
