he single directness
of their line and plummet.

She understood from Harry's awkward attitude in his own home that he
was suffering, and that he was likely to make others suffer with him.
She had no special resentment against Mrs. Filmer. "Her behavior was
natural enough; I might have been just as rude under the same
provocation," she thought. So she said nothing whatever to her father
of the little scene between Mrs. Filmer and herself; she was able to
understand Mrs. Filmer's position, and she was satisfied with the way
in which she had defended her own. "There is nothing owing between
us," she reflected, "and, therefore, there will be no perpetual sense
of injury. We shall forgive--and perhaps forget."

She busied herself all afternoon about her simple household duties;
affecting to Betta a sudden anxiety about the usual preparations for
winter; and she compelled herself to sing as she went up and down,
putting away, and taking out, or looking carefully for the ravages of
the summer moth. Peter heard her voice in one _bravura_ after another;
and for a short time he sat still listening and wondering. For effects
are chained to causes, and he asked himself what reason Yanna had for
music of that particular kind. By-and-by, he smiled and nodded; he had
fathomed the secret of Yanna's mental medicine--though with her it had
been a simple instinct accepted and obeyed--and he said softly:

"To be sure! The lifeboat is launched with a shout, and the forlorn
hope goes cheering into the breach; so when the heart has a big fight
to make, anything that can help it into action is good. Artificial
singing will bring the real song; anyway, it helps her to work, and
work is the best gospel ever preached for a heartache."

The evening was brightened by Antony's metamorphosis into a man of
fashion. His late frequent visits to New York were explained when he
rather consciously came into the sitting-room. He was in full dress,
and looked remarkably handsome; and Peter felt very proud of his son.
It is a humbling thing to confess that he had never had such a quick,
positive pride in him before. The potent and mysterious power of
dress, and of a fine personal presence, jumped to his eyes, and
appealed to his heart, with a promptitude Antony's bravest and most
unselfish deeds had never effected. He stood up and looked at his son
with a kindling pleasure in his face; and when Yanna sent him off with
prodigal compliments, he privately en