cted through his
lawyer, and the clerk of whom he had spoken to me. After the business
matters of the estate were all in order, he went away, intending, I
believe, to stay a year or two. But he came back before many months were
over, and settled down into the routine of business life, which now
seemed to have become necessary to him.

Travel was only a weariness to him in his state of mind; and work, and
city-life, seemed the panacea. He did not live with Sophie, but took
apartments, which he furnished plainly; and seemed settling down,
according to his brother, into much of the sort of life that Uncle
Leonard had led so many years in Varick-street.

Sophie still went to R----, and I often heard of the pleasant parties
there in summer. But Richard seldom went, and seemed to have lost his
interest in the place, though I have no doubt he spent more money on it
than before. I heard of many improvements every year.

And Richard was now a man of wealth, so much so that people talked about
him; and the newspapers said, in talking about real-estate, or
investments, or institutions of charity--"When such men as Richard
Vandermarck allow their names to appear, we may be sure," etc., etc. He
was now the head of the firm, and one of the first business men of the
city. He seemed a great deal older than he was; thirty-seven is young to
occupy the place he held.

Such a _parti_ could not be let alone entirely. His course was certainly
discouraging, and it needs tough hopes to live on nothing. But stranger
things had happened; more obdurate men had yielded; and unappropriated
loveliness hoped on. The story of an early attachment was afloat in
connection with his name. I don't know whether I was made to play a part
in it or not.

I saw him, perhaps, twice a year, not oftener. His manner was always, to
me, peculiarly grave and kind; to every one, practical and unpretending.
I had many letters from him, particularly when I was away on journeys.
He seemed always to want to know exactly where I was, and to feel a care
of me, though his letters never went beyond business matters, and advice
about things I did not understand.

As my guardian, he could not have done less, nor was it necessary that
he should do more; still I often wished it would occur to him to come
and see me oftener, and give me an opportunity of showing him how much
I had improved, and how different I had become. I had the greatest
respect for his opinion; and he ha