door being
opened, she could enter in the very face of that mirth of which she
fancied herself the victim.

On being shown into a parlour, she was presently waited upon by Mr.
Ainslie, who seemed to her to have come from the scene of enjoyment in
the drawing-room. She could even fancy that he eyed her as in some way
standing in the path of his daughter's expectations through Walter--a
fancy which of course would gain strength from the somewhat excited
manner in which he received the words of her commission, to the effect
that he would repair the next forenoon to the house of the
merchant-burgess, for the purpose of preparing his last will and
testament. The notary agreed to attend, and thus, still construing
appearances according to the assimilating bent of her mind, she departed
for home. After going through the routine of her domestic duties, and
caring for her invalid father, she retired to bed--that place of
so-called rest, where mortals chew the cud of the thoughts of the day or
of years. And how unlike the two processes, the physical and the
mental!--in the one is brought up for a second enjoyment the green grass
of nature, still fresh and palatable and nutritious; in the other, the
seared leaves of memory, feeding unavailing regrets, and filling the
microcosm with phantoms and dire shapes of evil, the types whereof never
had an existence in the outer world. Walter Grierson was lost to her for
ever, and the dire energies of fate, as described by the
artist-philosopher, seemed to hang over her, claiming, in harsh tones,
her will as a mere instrument in the working out of her own destiny.

Next day Mr. Ainslie called, and was for a long time closeted with Mr.
Grierson; but so careless was she now of the fortune about being left to
her, and which she was satisfied would not now be a means of showing her
affection for Walter, that she felt little interest in an affair which
otherwise might have appeared of so much importance to her. Her
attention was, notwithstanding, claimed by an incident. After the
interview, the notary visited Walter Grierson in his room, where the
young man seemed to have been waiting for him. In ordinary circumstances
it might have appeared strange that a man of business, bound to secrecy,
would divulge the terms of a will to any one, but far more that he
should take means for apprising a nephew that he was deprived of any
share of his uncle's means. Nor could she account for this interview on