tsmouth; and I'll put up a board with
Refreshments--Moderate, over the door, and Matabel shall make tea
or sell cake, and pick up a trifle towards; housekeeping."

A month was elapsed since Mehetabel's marriage, the month of honey
to most--one of empty comb without sweetness to her. She had drawn
no nearer to her husband than before. They had no interests, no
tastes in common. They saw all objects through a different medium.

It was not a matter of concern to Mehetabel that she was left
much alone by Jonas, and that her sister-in-law and the rest of
the squatters treated her as an interloper.

As a child, at the Ship, without associates of her own age, after
Iver's departure, she had lived much to herself, and now her soul
craved for solitude. And yet, when she was alone the thoughts of
her heart troubled her.

Jonas was attached, in his fashion, to his beautiful wife; he
joked, and was effusive in his expressions of affection. But she
did not respond to his jokes, and his demonstrations of affection
repelled her. Jonas was too dull, or vain, to perceive this, and
he attributed her coldness to modesty, real or affected, probably
the latter.

Mehetabel shrank from looking full in the face, the thought that
she must spend the rest of her life with this man. She was well
aware that she could not love him, could hardly bring herself to
like him, the utmost she could hope was that she might arrive at
enduring him.

Whilst in this condition of unrest and discouragement, Iver
appeared, and his presence lit up the desolation in which she was.
The sight of him, the sound of his voice, aroused old recollections,
helped to drive away the shadows that environed her, and that
clouded her mind. There was no harm in this, and yet she was
uneasy. Cheerful as she was when he was present, there was
something feverish in this cheerfulness, and it left her more
unhappy than before when he was gone, and more conscious of the
impossibility of accommodating herself to her lot.

The visit on one fine day was followed by another when the rain
fell heavily.

Iver entered the house, shook his wet hat and cloak, and with a
laugh, exclaimed--

"Here I am--to continue the picture."

"In such weather?"

"Little woman! When I started the wind was in the right quarter.
All at once it veered round and gave me a drenching. What odds?
You can stand at the window, and I can proceed with the figure.
It was tedious at the Ship. Between you a