had it not been for the unutterable sense of loneliness and the constant impulse to wait for some one's arrival, before engaging in any thing, they might, after the first burst of grief, have at once regained their cheerfulness.
Many of their friends and neighbors came to the house with such condolence as occurred to them; and kindness to the widow and orphan was far more delicate and genuine among the simple villagers than often it is among the more artificial denizens of cities. Had their loss not been irreparable, the fountains of sympathy and affection which were now opened for the first time, might well have renewed the greenness that was withered; and, as it was, the repeated and unprompted offers of kind service did much to assuage the sense of desolation which always accompanies the sudden death of a long-trusted protector.
Among those who called with these and other motives was the elder Le Vert—a man whose delicacy was in an inverse ratio to his business capacity, and who, therefore, in proportion as he over-valued money, under-valued kindness and affection. No one would have suspected him of attempting to console a mourner, or of sympathizing with a sorrow; and Madame Lefrette was, accordingly, not mistaken, when, upon his entrance, she concluded that she owed the visit to some matter of business.
"It will be necessary, Madame," he commenced almost as soon as he had deposited his heavy person in the chair offered him, "that letters of administration on your late husband's estate be taken out as soon as convenient———"
True; she had not thought of that, as yet.
"And," he continued, wiping his damp forehead, and speaking in the tone of a man who had already settled the affair in his own mind, "I have determined that, as his partner in trade, the duty will most properly devolve upon me."
It was precisely what she would have requested, she said.
"You perceive," he went on, graciously affording a reason, when the arrangement had been sanctioned without it, "I shall be allowed by the law, a certain time in which to settle up the partnership business———"
