e would no longer
delay coming to her. He would meet her with extended arms and the same
joyous welcome as of old. He would utter kind and pleasant words
expressive of his happiness, and would fold her to his heart. There
would she nestle and forget her foolish fears and suspicions of the past
night, and would only remember that she was loved. As, however, she now
saw the frown upon his face, her heart and courage failed her; and in
proportion as she had previously fortified her mind with hopeful
confidence, a terrible reaction of apprehension overcame her. Could it
be that the angry look was for her, and that it could be justified by
any word that she had ever spoken or any duty that she had neglected?
With one hand lightly resting upon the table, her right foot thrown
forward in impulsive readiness to spring into his extended arms, but her
whole form drooping and shrinking with dismay, her face pale, and the
smile which she had called upon it now faintly and painfully flickering
in a deathlike manner about her whitened lips, as it glided from her
control and began to give place to an utter and undisguised fear, she
stood awaiting his first word or action.

'Ha, AEnone!'

'My lord--'

Then remembering what was due to her upon their first meeting, he
smoothed the frown from off his face, held out his arms, and tenderly
embraced her, uttering kind and loving words. It was the same gesture
with which he had parted from her when, six months before, the state had
called upon him to arouse from the ease and tranquility of his wedded
life and do new service upon the field. Those were the same gentle and
affectionate words which he had been wont to utter. And yet to her
quickened apprehension, urged on by some secret instinct, it seemed as
though the soul of the tender greeting was gone, leaving but the mere
form behind. Could it be that during those few months of absence he had
learned to think less dearly of her? At the thought, the last faint
gleams of the flickering smile died away from her face; while he,
unobservant of her distress, and still goaded by the remembrance of his
losses, released her from his embrace and threw himself heavily down
upon the nearest lounge.

'I am thirsty,' he said. 'Give me some drink.'

She poured some wine into a goblet, and timidly presented it to his
lips. The liquid, cooled with snow from the mountains, was refreshing to
his palate, and he drank it to the last drop. As he parted wit