, as frequently
before. She can spare him for this, and pardon his prolonged absence.
She knows how fond he is of the chase; has been so from a boy.

But, on the present occasion, he is staying beyond his usual time. It
is now night; the deer have sought their coverts; and he is not
"torch-hunting."

Only one thing can she think of to explain the tardiness of his return.
The eyes of the widowed mother have been of late more watchful than
wont. She has noticed her son's abstracted air, and heard sighs that
seemed to come from his inner heart. Who can mistake the signs of love,
either in man or woman? Mrs Clancy does not. She sees that Charles
has lapsed into this condition.

Rumours that seem wafted on the air--signs slight, but significant--
perhaps the whisper of a confidential servant--these have given her
assurance of the fact: telling her, at the same time, who has won his
affections.

Mrs Clancy is neither dissatisfied nor displeased. In all the
neighbourhood there is no one she would more wish to have for a
daughter-in-law than Helen Armstrong. Not from any thought of the
girl's great beauty, or high social standing. Caroline Clancy is
herself too well descended to make much of the latter circumstance. It
is the reputed noble character of the lady that influences her approval
of her son's choice.

Thinking of this--remembering her own youth, and the stolen interviews
with Charles Clancy's father--oft under the shadow of night--she could
not, does not, reflect harshly on the absence of that father's son from
home, however long, or late the hour.

It is only as the clock strikes twelve, she begins to think seriously
about it. Then creeps over her a feeling of uneasiness, soon changing
to apprehension. Why should he be staying out so late--after midnight?
The same little bird, that brought her tidings of his love-affair, has
also told her it is clandestine. Mrs Clancy may not like this. It has
the semblance of a slight to her son, as herself--more keenly felt by
her in their reduced circumstances. But then, as compensation, arises
the retrospect of her own days of courtship carried on in the same way.

Still, at that hour the young lady cannot--dares not--be abroad. All
the more unlikely, that the Armstrongs are moving off--as all the
neighbourhood knows--and intend starting next day, at an early hour.

The plantation people will long since have retired to rest; therefore an
interview with h