manner, either at this
time, or before. He was always tender and dignified, when speaking to or
of her. If he felt any uneasiness now, he did not betray it. In looking
back, I am sure of this. Afterwards, in company, where he might be
supposed to be proud of his wife, he often looked at her with the same
astonishment, and sometimes with unaffected admiration. He could not
help seeing the great change in her,--that the days were taken up with
rational and elegant pursuits, and that the hours were vocal with poetry
and taste. The illuminating mind had brought her tulip beauty into a
brighter and more gorgeous glow, and her movements were full of graceful
meaning. Everything was touched and inspired but the heart. I don't know
that he felt this, or that he missed anything. She had the same easy
self-possession in his presence which she had always had,--the same pet
names of endearment. It was always "Willie, dear," or "Yes, my love,"
which makes the usual matrimonial vocabulary, and which does not reward
study. But he always looked at her with a calm delight, perfectly
satisfied with all she said and did, and with a Southern indolence of
mind and body, that precluded effort. I think he never once lost entire
confidence in her, or was jealous of the hand that had unlocked such
mental treasures for her.

Meanwhile her eager lip quaffed the bright cup so cautiously presented,
and drained it with ever new delight. If it was mingled with delicate
flattery, it only sparkled more merrily; and if there were poison there,
I am sure she never guessed it, even when it burnt in her cheek or
thrilled in her dancing veins.

XII.

The Lewises, with Mr. Remington and a large party of pleasure-seekers,
went about this time on a tour to Quebec and the Falls of Montmorency.
They decided to shut their house in Boston, and Lulu asked me if I would
employ and look after a _protegee_ of hers, in whom she took some
interest. The woman was a tolerable seamstress, she said, and would come
to me the next day. She knew nothing about her except that she was poor
and could sew.

When the woman came in, I was puzzled to think where I could have seen
her, which I was sure I had done somewhere, though I could not recall
the where or when. In answer to my particular inquiries, as she could
give me no references, she told me her husband was living, but was sick
and could do nothing for his family,--in fact, that she and three
children were kept aliv