s the fate of her brother's attachment.

The ensuing were days of suppressed excitement, chiefly manifested by the
yawning fits that seized on Bertha whenever no scene in the drama was
passing before her. In fact, the scenes presented little. Cecily was
not allowed to shut herself up, and did nothing remarkable, though
avoiding the walks that she would otherwise have taken with the Fulmort
party; and when she found that Bertha was aware of her position, firmly
making silence on that head the condition of their interviews. Mervyn
let her alone, and might have seemed absolutely indifferent, but for the
cessation of all complaints of Hyeres, and for the noteworthy brightness,
obligingness, and good humour of his manners. Even in her absence,
though often restless and strangely watchful, he was always placable and
good-tempered, never even scolding Phoebe; and in her presence, though he
might not exchange three words, or offer the smallest service, there was
a repose and content on his countenance that gave his whole expression a
new reading. He was looking particularly well, fined down into alertness
by his disciplined life and hill climbing, his complexion cleared and
tanned by mountain air, and the habits and society of the last year
leaving an unconscious impress unlike that which he used to bring from
his former haunts. Phoebe wondered if Cecily remarked it. She was not
aware that Cecily did not know him without that restful look.

Phoebe came to the conclusion that Cecily was persuaded of the cessation
of his attachment, and was endeavouring to be thankful, and to accustom
herself to it. After the first, she did not hide herself to any marked
degree; and, probably to silence her aunt, allowed that lady to take her
on one of the grand Monday expeditions, when all the tolerably sound
visiting population of Hyeres were wont to meet, to the number of thirty
or forty, and explore the scenery. Exquisite as were the views, these
were not romantic excursions, the numbers conducing to gossip and
chatter, but there were some who enjoyed them the more in consequence;
and Mervyn, who had been loudest in vituperation of his first, found the
present perfectly delightful, although the chief of his time was spent in
preventing Mrs. Holmby's cross-grained donkey from lying down to roll,
and administering to the lady the chocolate drops that he carried for
Bertha's sustenance; Cecily, meantime, being far before with his sisters