himself repenting as
having to redeem what is past, than merely out of terror, thinking the
temptations have given him up, not that he gives them up. Why, when
he told me to sell his saddle-horses the other day, and that he should
never ride again, it was nothing, and I only roused him up to hope to be
out in the spring. Then he began to lament over his beautiful mare,--but
when it came to his saying he had sacrificed Violet's drives for her,
and that he had been a selfish wretch, who never deserved to mount a
horse again, and ending with a deep sigh, and "Let her go, I ought to
give her up," there was reality and sincerity, and I acted on it. No,
if Arthur comes out of his room a changed character, it must be by
strengthening his resolution, not by weakening his mind, by letting him
give way to the mere depression of illness.'

'You believe the change real? Oh, you don't know what the doubt is to
me! after my share in the evil, the anxiety is doubly intense! and I
cannot see much demonstration except in his sadness, which you call
bodily weakness.'

'We cannot pry into hidden things,' Percy answered. 'Watch his wife, and
you will see that she is satisfied. You may trust him to her, and to
Him in whose hands he is. Of this I am sure, that there is a patient
consideration for others, and readiness to make sacrifices that are not
like what he used to be. You are not satisfied? It is not as you
would repent; but you must remember that Arthur's is after all a boy's
character; he has felt his errors as acutely as I think he can feel
them, and if he is turning from them, that is all we can justly expect.
They were more weakness than wilfulness.'

'Not like mine!' said Theodora; 'but one thing more, Percy--can it be
right for him to see no clergyman?'

'Wait,' said Percy again. 'Violet can judge and influence him better
than you or I. Depend upon it, she will do the right thing at the right
time. Letting him alone to learn from his children seems to me the
safest course.'

Theodora acquiesced, somewhat comforted by the conversation, though it
was one of those matters in which the most loving heart must submit to
uncertainty, in patient hope and prayer.

Just before Christmas, Theodora was summoned home; for her mother was
too unwell and dispirited to do without her any longer. Her father
offered to come and take her place, but Arthur and Violet decided that
it would be a pity to unsettle him from home again. Arthur was