ow, he could not take his
eyes from her. For the first time, he observed the grace of every
movement; he silently compared the classical lines of her neck and
shoulders, to the massive shapelessness of the elder lady, and the
insignificant prettiness of her little daughter. His eyes were opened,
and they saw her graceful walk, and the way she placed her slender
feet; and--when she turned to speak to her companion--the regularity of
her clearly cut profile, seen in the relief of her dark bonnet; and
then the glitter of her white teeth, when her lips parted, as they
often did, without a smile, but with a pensive and rather lofty look,
that was in keeping with the deep low tones of her voice.

Indeed she never smiled, unless when she was talking to him; this
discovery rewarded him for his eager watchfulness, when she was talking
to other men. She _did_ love him best; there could be no doubt of that.
Why then tolerate the attentions of a stranger, if he was to be nothing
more?

Thus he questioned himself, in his perplexity; when the perception
suddenly flashed upon him, that after all, if she _did_ feel youthfully
enough to begin life afresh, he certainly had no business to prevent
her--What compensation had he to offer her? Was it not the idea of a
maniac, to suppose that she was to go on for ever, sacrificing her life
to his; waiting upon him so long as he should think fit to go on
calling her his little mother, and keep dangling by her apron-string?

When they came to the coffee-garden, they found there was a band in the
saloon of the house, playing valses, and summoning the younger among
the loungers to go in and dance them; an impromptu ball was soon
arranged. The elders sat in the sunshine before the windows,
occasionally turning their heads from their coffee-cups, to look round
at the dancing vortex within, and see how their young people were
amusing themselves.

Lottchen had asked and obtained her mother's permission to join the
dancers, and now stood evidently waiting for Walter's assistance, to
take advantage of it. But he rose, and pleading a bad headache, he
walked away to escape from the noise and crowd; so with a sigh of
undisguised regret, she saw herself forced to accept the offered arm of
his more willing substitute.--

Helen saw what was going on but too plainly, and she had begun to
divine that she herself might be the cause of Walter's change of
spirits. How could he have heard of his adopted fathe