on, for he was very much
in love with the woman whom he was to marry. He had been faithful to
his wife while she lived, even the imagination of love for another
woman had not entered his heart. His wife's faded face had not for a
second disturbed his loyalty; but now the beauty of this other woman
aroused within him long dormant characteristics, like some wonderful
stimulant, not only for the body, but for the soul. When he looked in
Ida Slome's beautiful face he seemed to drink in an elixir of life.
And yet, down at the roots of the man's heart slept the memory of his
wife; for Abby Edgham, with her sallow, faded face, had possessed
something which Ida Slome lacked, and which the man needed, to hold
him. And always in his mind, at this time, was the intention to be
more than kind to his motherless little daughter, not to let her
realize any difference in his feeling for her.

When he came to-night, he looked at the sleeping Mrs. Addix, and at
Maria, taking painful stitches in her dresser cover, at first with a
radiant smile, then with the deepest pity.

"Poor little soul," he said. "You have had a long evening to
yourself, haven't you?"

"I don't mind," replied Maria. She was thinking of the torn
wall-paper, and she did not look her father fully in the eyes.

"Has she been asleep ever since I went?" inquired Harry, in a whisper.

"Yes, sir."

"Poor little girl. Well, it will be livelier by-and-by for you. We'll
have company, and more going on." Harry then went close to Mrs.
Addix, sitting with her head resting on her shoulder, still snoring
with those puffs of heavy breath. "Mrs. Addix," he said.

Mrs. Addix did not stir; she continued to snore.

"Mrs. Addix!" repeated Harry, in a louder tone, but still the
sleeping woman did not stir.

"Good Lord, what a sleeper!" said Harry, still aloud. Then he shook
her violently by the shoulder. "Come, Mrs. Addix," said he, in a
shout; "I've got home, and I guess you'll want to be going yourself."

Mrs. Addix moved languidly, and glanced up with a narrow slit of eye,
as dull as if she had been drugged. Harry shook her again, and
repeated his announcement that he was home and that she must want to
go. At last he roused her, and she stood up with a dazed expression.
Maria got her bonnet and shawl, and she gazed at them vaguely, as if
she were so far removed from the flesh that the garments thereof
perplexed her. Maria put on her bonnet, standing on tiptoe, and Harry
thr