ection.

It is scarcely possible to conceive, how completely even a few trifling
objects like these can change the "morale" of a chamber--how that,
which before seemed cumbrous, sad, and dispiriting, becomes at once
lightsome and pleasant-looking. But so it is: the things which speak of
human thought and feeling appeal to a very different sense from those
which merely minister to material comfort; and we accept the presence of
a single book, a print, or drawing, as an evidence that mental aliment
has not been forgotten.

If the changes here spoken of gave a very different air and seeming
to the old tower, Kate's own presence there completed the magic of the
transformation. Dressed in black silk, and wearing a profusion of lace
of the same colour--for her costume had been adapted to a very different
sphere--she took her place in the family circle, diffusing around her
a look of refinement and elegance, and making of that sombre chamber
a spacious "salon." Her guitar, her embroidery, her old-fashioned
writing-desk, inlaid with silver, caught the eye as it wandered about
the room, and told of womanly graces and accomplishments, so foreign to
the rude emblems of the chase and the field, henceforth to be banished
to the old entrance hall.

The O'Donoghue himself felt the influence of the young girl's presence,
and evidenced, in his altered dress and demeanour, the respect he
desired to show; while Mark took from his scanty wardrobe the only
garment he possessed above the rank of a shooting jacket, and entered
the room with a half-bashful, half-sullen air, as though angry and
ashamed with himself for even so much compliance with the world's
usages.

Although Kate was quick-sighted enough to see that these changes were
caused on her account, her native tact prevented her from showing
that knowledge, and made her receive their attentions with that happy
blending of courtesy and familiarity, so fascinating from a young and
pretty woman. The dinner--and it was a "chef-d'oeuvre" on the part
of Mrs. Branagan--passed off most pleasantly. The fear her coming had
excited now gave way to the delight her presence conferred. They felt
as if they had done her an injustice in their judgment, and hastened to
make every "amende" for their unfair opinion. Never, for years long, had
the O'Donoghue been so happy. The cold and cheerless chamber was once
more warmed into a home. The fire beside which he had so often brooded
in sadness, was n