his attention before. They applied so pointedly to his own case that all doubts fled, and his future course was immediately decided on, in which he never wavered for another moment. By the sacrifices he was ready to make must his devotion be tested.
Rosalind entered his chamber that afternoon but he took no notice of her presence. He sat at the table with his head bowed on his hands, and seeing that he was beyond the reach of human sympathy she left a kiss on his brow and silently withdrew, When she heard his elastic step on the stair and saw the cheerful smile with which his face was lighted as he entered the parlor and met his mother's glance with more confiding assurance than he had done that day, she exchanged enquiring glances with her husband who was equally surprised at the change he as quickly observed.
Mrs. Claremont had experienced as restless and painful day as Walter, which was somewhat relieved by this momentary recurrence of his wonted buoyancy of spirits, but at the same time she felt an inexplicable sense of uneasiness and anxiety as he sat down beside her. She longed for the familiar interchange of congenial sentiments which had formerly drawn their spirits together as one, and something within her queried whether in reality they were so far apart now. The harshness with which a new idea ever grates on the settled habits of the mind was beginning to wear off as she became accustomed to an unvarnished statement of facts, so that unconsciously to herself the issue between them was really of a different character from what it was at first.
