sted any appearance of affection for him, and the
only one of the family for whom, in return, he came to show the least
consideration. Rough he was, even to her, but never, except when in
absolute pain, rude as to everybody in the house besides. At times, one
might have almost thought he stood in some little awe of her. Every
night, after his man was gone, she would visit him to see that he was
left comfortable, would tuck him up as his mother might have done, and
satisfy herself that the night-light was shaded from his eyes. With her
own hands she always arranged his breakfast on the tray, nor never
omitted taking him a basin of soup before he got up; and, whatever he
may have concluded concerning her motives, he gave no sign of imagining
them other than generous. Perhaps the part in him which had never had
the opportunity of behaving ill to his mother, and so had not choked up
its channels with wrong, remained, in middle age and illness, capable
of receiving kindness.

Hesper saw the relation between them, but without the least pleasure or
the least curiosity. She seemed to care for nothing--except the keeping
of her back straight. What could it be, inside that lovely form, that
gave itself pleasure to be, were a difficult question indeed. The bear
as he lies in his winter nest, sucking his paw, has no doubt his
rudimentary theories of life, and those will coincide with a desire for
its continuance; but whether what either the lady or the bear counts
the good of life, be really that which makes either desire its
continuance, is another question. Mere life without suffering seems
enough for most people, but I do not think it could go on so for ever.
I can not help fancying that, but for death, utter dreariness would at
length master the healthiest in whom the true life has not begun to
shine. But so satisfying is the mere earthly existence to some at
present, that this remark must sound to them bare insanity.

Partly out of compliment to Mr. Redmain, the Mortimers had scarcely a
visitor; for he would not come out of his room when he knew there was a
stranger in the house. Fond of company of a certain kind when he was
well, he could not endure an unknown face when ho was ill. He told Lady
Malice that at such times a stranger always looked a devil to him.
Hence the time was dull for everybody--dullest, perhaps, for Sepia,
who, as well as Redmain, had a few things that required forgetting. It
was no wonder, then, that He