He felt the charm of the devoted love, the simple child-like confidence of that impulsive nature; he reposed in it and resolved to be satisfied with it. They very rarely spoke of the time that had passed between their parting and their meeting, and Eveline tried to forget she had had another husband, or that she had other children than those of Gerald Staunton. How differently did maternity, with its pains, its pleasures, and its duties, appear to Eveline now! What solicitude and watchfulness, and love, and pride, did her children call forth! Amy was the eldest of their four children, and was always strong and healthy, but the three boys born subsequently were very delicate.
Years of watchful care and all the best advice that could be procured could not save them; they all died at about the same age. After the death of her Boys, Eveline's face assumed that strange far-looking expression peculiar to bereaved mothers; her health too began to give way, and her husband grew alarmed about her. When her medical attendant prescribed voyage to Madeira and a winter's residence there, Gerald threw up his employment and accompanied her and his little girl.
His family had been a very expensive one, but he would neglect nothing that would give
