ite unable to make any reply; and before I could
recover myself my father appeared to have become conscious of his
singularity of manner, which he evidently overcame by a very powerful
effort. Laying his hand somewhat heavily upon my shoulder, he said:

"Do not be frightened, Leo; I have been far from well lately, and my
illness seems to have slightly affected my brain; sometimes I detect
myself saying things which I had not the remotest intention of saying a
moment before. If you should observe any little peculiarity of that
kind in me, take no notice of it, let it pass. And now, if your boxes
are all ready--as I suppose they are--let them be brought down and put
on the chaise; we shall sleep in Poole to-night, and we can converse at
the hotel, over a good dinner, as well as here."

An hour later we were discussing that same good dinner, and maintaining
a tolerably animated conversation over it, too. My father put a few
adroit questions to me relative to my school experiences, which had the
effect of "drawing me out," and he listened to all I had to say with
just that appearance of friendly interest which is so flattering and
encouraging to a youthful talker. His treatment of me was everything
that could be desired--except that he seemed to be rather taking the
ground of an elder friend than of a parent. I should have preferred a
shade less of the polite suavity of his manner and a more distinct
manifestation of fatherly affection. He seemed anxious to efface the
memory of the singularity which marked our first meeting; and yet I
thought that, later on in the evening, when our conversation assumed a
more general character, I could detect a disposition on his part to
again approach the subject, these approaches being accompanied by a very
perceptible nervousness and constraint of manner. But, though my father
certainly led the conversation once or twice in that direction, he as
often changed the subject again, and nothing more was said about it
until our bed-room candles were brought to us and we were about to
retire for the night. Then, as we vacated the chairs we had been
occupying during the evening, and rose to our feet, he grasped me by the
arm and planted me square in front of the chimney-piece, which was
surmounted by a pier-glass, and, placing himself beside me, remarked,
looking at our reflected images:

"You have grown tremendously, Leo, during the seven years you have been
at school. I really beli