er on the walls
depressed the mind as one passed it; the indeterminate dun paint had
defied fog for years. The whole house presented only such features as
would encourage its proprietors to trust to the sufficing of infrequent
re-decoration.

Jane had, however, made efforts in behalf of the drawing-room, in which
her mistress spent her days. She had introduced palliations by degrees
and with an unobtrusiveness which was not likely to attract the
attention of neighbours unaccustomed to lavish delivery by means of
furniture vans. She had brought in a rug or so, and had gradually
replaced objects with such as were more pleasant to live with and more
comfortable to use. Dr. Warren had seen the change wrought, and had
noted evidences that money was not unobtainable. The maid also was a
young woman whose manner towards her mistress was not merely respectful
and well-bred, but suggestive of watchful affection bordering on
reverence. Jane Cupp herself was a certificate of decorum and good
standing. It was not such young women who secluded themselves with
questionable situations. As she laid her hand on the drawing-room door
to open it and announce him, it occurred to Dr. Warren that he would
tell Mary that evening that if Mrs. Jameson had been the heroine of any
unconventional domestic drama it was an unmistakable fact that Jane Cupp
would have "felt it her duty as a young woman to leave this day month,
if you please, ma'am," quite six months ago. And there she was, in a
neat gown and apron,--evidently a fixture because she liked her
place,--her decent young face full of sympathetic interest.

The day was dull and cold, but the front room was warm and made cheerful
by fire. Mrs. Jameson was sitting at a writing-table. There were letters
before her, and she seemed to have been re-reading them. She did not any
longer bloom with normal health. Her face was a little dragged, and the
first thing he noted in the eyes she lifted to him was that they were
bewildered.

"She has had a shock," he thought. "Poor woman!"

He began to talk to her about herself with the kindly perception which
was inseparable from him. He wondered if the time had not come when she
would confide in him. Her shock, whatsoever it had been, had left her in
the position of a woman wholly at a loss to comprehend what had
occurred. He saw this in her ingenuous troubled face. He felt as if she
was asking herself what she should do. It was not unlikely that
prese