as if an evening party had broken up. Floyd Grandon, though not a
demonstrative man, lingers to give his mother a parting kiss, and is
glad that he has returned to comfort her.

CHAPTER II.

When a woman has ceased to be quite the same to us, it matters not how
different she becomes.--W. S. LANDOR.

The house is still. Every one is shut in with his or her thoughts.
Floyd Grandon goes to the bed of his little girl, where Jane sits
watching in an uncertain state, since everything is so new and strange.

How lovely the child is! The rosy lips are parted, showing the pearly
teeth, the face is a little flushed with warmth, one pale, pink-tinted
ear is like a bit of sculpture, the dimpled shoulder, the one dainty
bare foot outside the spread, seem parts of a cherub. He presses it
softly; he kisses the sweet lips that smile. Is it really the sense of
ownership that makes her so dear?

He has never experienced this jealous, overwhelming tenderness for
anything human. He loves his mother with all a son's respect, and has a
peculiar sympathy for her. If his father were alive he knows they would
be good comrades to stand by each other, to have a certain positive
faith and honor in each other's integrity. His brother and
sisters--well, he has never known them intimately, even as one gets to
know friends, but he will take them upon trust. Then there are two
women,--the mother of his child, and that affluent, elegant being
across the hall. Does his heart warm to her? And yet she might have
been mistress here and the mother of his children. The "might have
been" in his thought would comfort his mother greatly, who is
wondering, as she moves restlessly on her pillow, if it may not yet be.

Floyd Grandon's story comprehends all the rest, so I will give that.

Some sixty years before this, two sturdy Englishmen and their sister
had come to the New World, with a good deal of energy and some money.
The freak that led them up the river to this place was their love of
beautiful scenery. Land was cheap, and at first they tried farming, but
presently they started a carpet factory, their old business, and being
ingenious men, they made some improvements. Ralph Stanwood, another
Englishman, joined them. They placed their business two miles farther
up, where there were facilities for docks and the privileges they
desired.

William Grandon married, but only one of his children reached maturity.
James and his sister Marcia lived i