Ronald
to favor the company. His mother placed in his hands a volume of Mrs.
Browning's poems, and he turned to that surpassingly beautiful romance,
"Lady Geraldine's Courtship."

Ronald was one of those rare readers gifted with the power of filling,
at pleasure, the poet's place, or of embodying the characters which he
delineated. The young artist's rich, sonorous voice; obeyed his will,
and was modulated to express every variety of emotion, while his
animated countenance glowed, flushed, paled, grew radiant or clouded,
with the scene he described. A master-spirit playing upon a thoroughly
comprehended instrument manifested itself in his rendition of the
author.

All eyes were riveted upon him as he read; he possessed in an eminent
degree the faculty of magnetizing his hearers, taking them captive for
the time being, and bearing them, as upon a rising or falling wave,
whither he would. As the tale progressed, the silence grew deeper, and,
save Ronald's voice, not a sound was to be heard, except, now and then,
a quickened breath and Bertha's low sobbing; for she wept as though
Bertram had been one whom she had known.

Mrs. Walton's eyes had been fixed upon her son, with an expression of
ineffable soul-drawn delight; but, just before the poem drew to a close,
they stole around the circle to note the effect produced by his masterly
reading upon others. Every face mirrored such emotions as the poem might
have awakened in minds capable of appreciating the noble and beautiful;
but by Madeleine's countenance she was forcibly struck; a marble pallor
overspread her visage, her eyes were strangely dilated and filled with
moisture; if the lids for a moment had closed, the "silver tears" must
have run down her cheeks as freely as ran Lady Geraldine's; but, when
Ronald came to that passage where Lady Geraldine thrills Bertram with
joy by the confession that it was him whom she loved,--though he had
never divined that love,--him only! Madeleine's lips quivered, and, with
a sudden impulse, which defied control, she covered her face with her
hands as though she dreaded that her heart might be perused in her
countenance. It was an involuntary action, repented of as soon as made,
for she withdrew the hands immediately, but the spontaneous movement
spoke volumes.

As Mrs. Walton watched her, a sudden flash of _clairvoyance_ revealed a
portion of the truth, and she ejaculated, mentally,--

"The man whom Madeleine loves is unaware o