ends, and
a temptation to pretend that he was not interested at all. He
remembered, too, with a serio-comical kind of remorse, the manner in
which he had spoken to Mrs. Costello about Maurice. He was obliged to
confess to himself that Maurice had never said a word to him which could
be taken as expressing any other than a brotherly feeling of regard for
Lucia; he had certainly _fancied_ that there was another kind of
affection in his thoughts; but it was no part of the old soldier's code
of honour to sanction the betrayal of a secret discovered by chance, and
he felt guilty in remembering how far the warmth of his friendship had
carried him. He considered, by way of tormenting himself yet further,
that it was perfectly possible for a young man, being daily in the
company of a beautiful and charming girl, to fancy himself in love with
her, and yet, on passing into a different world and seeing other
charming girls, to discover that he had been mistaken. It is true that
if any other person had suggested that Maurice might have done this, Mr.
Leigh would have been utterly offended and indignant; nevertheless,
having proposed the idea to himself, he tried to look upon it as quite
natural and justifiable. After all, this second theory of inconstancy
rested upon the first theory of supposed love, and that upon guesses and
surmises, so that the whole edifice was just as shadowy and
unsubstantial as it could well be. But then it is curious to see how
much real torment people manage to extract from visionary troubles.

While his neighbours were still at Moose Island Mr. Leigh received two
letters from Maurice. The first not only did not contain the usual note
enclosed for Mrs. Costello, but there was not the slightest message to,
or mention of, either her or Lucia. Mr. Leigh examined the letter,
peeped into the envelope, shook the sheets apart (for Maurice's writing
filled much space with few words), but found nothing. The real
explanation of this was simple enough. Maurice had written his note to
Mrs. Costello, and then, just as he was going to put it in the envelope,
was called to his grandfather. In getting up from the table he gave the
note a push, which sent it down into a wastepaper basket. There it lay
unnoticed, and when he came back, just in time to send off his letters,
he fancied, not seeing it, that he had put it into the envelope, which
accordingly he closed and sent to the post without it. But of course
Mr. Leigh kn