Honora was far too much shaken for such a turn to the conversation;
she would not mortify him, but she could neither listen nor understand.
He, who was so full of stalwart force, a doomed man, yet calm and happy
under his sentence; he, only discovered to be so fondly loved in time to
give poignancy to the parting, and yet rejoicing himself in the poor,
tardy affection that had answered his manly constancy too late! His very
calmness and stillness cut her to the heart, and after some ineffectual
attempts to recover herself, she was forced to take refuge in her own
room. Weeping, praying, walking restlessly about, she remained there
till luncheon time, when Humfrey himself came up to knock at her door.

'Honor dear!' he said, 'come down--try to throw it off--Saville does not
wish his wife to be made aware of it while she is here, lest she should
be nervous. You must not betray me--and indeed there is no reason for
being overcome. Nothing vexes me but seeing you so. Let us enjoy your
visit, pray.'

To be commanded to bear up by a strong, manly character so much loved and
trusted was perhaps the chief support she could receive; she felt that
she must act composure, and coming down in obedience to her cousin, she
found the power of doing so. Nay, as she saw him so completely the
bright, hospitable host, talking to Mrs. Saville about her poultry, and
carrying on quiet jokes with Mr. Saville, she found herself drawn away
from the morning's conversation, or remembering it like a dream that had
passed away.

Then all went out together, and he was apparently as much interested in
his young wheat as ever, and even more anxious to make her look at and
appreciate crops and cattle, speaking about them in his hearty, simple
way, as if his pleasure in them was not flagging, perhaps because it had
never been excessive. He had always sat loose to them, and thus they
could please and occupy him even when the touch of the iron hand had made
itself felt.

And again she saw him engrossed in arranging some petty matter of
business for one of the poor people; and when they had wandered down to
the gate, pelting the turn-out of the boys' school with a pocket full of
apples that he said he had taken up while in conference with the
housekeeper, laughing and speaking merrily as the varlets touched their
caps to him, and always turning to her for sympathy in his pleasures of
success or of good nature, as though her visit were thorough en