owing morning. Meanwhile the sight recalled my fancy
naturally to the past; and, yielding to the tender influence of
sentiment, I sat down opposite the door upon the garden parapet. It was
August and a sultry afternoon, but that spot is sheltered, as you may
observe by daylight, under the branches of a spreading chestnut; the
square, too, was deserted; there was a sound of distant music in the
air; and all combined to plunge me into that most agreeable of states,
which is neither happiness nor sorrow, but shares the poignancy of both.

From this I was recalled by the arrival of a large van, very handsomely
appointed, drawn by valuable horses, mounted by several men of an
appearance more than decent, and bearing on its panels, instead of a
trader's name, a coat of arms too modest to be deciphered from where I
sat. It drew up before my house, the door of which was immediately
opened by one of the men. His companions--I counted seven of them in
all--proceeded, with disciplined activity, to take from the van and
carry into the house a variety of hampers, bottle-baskets, and boxes,
such as are designed for plate and napery. The windows of the
dining-room were thrown widely open, as though to air it; and I saw some
of those within laying the table for a meal. Plainly, I concluded, my
tenant was about to return; and while still determined to submit to no
aggression on my rights, I was gratified by the number and discipline of
his attendants, and the quiet profusion that appeared to reign in his
establishment. I was still so thinking when, to my extreme surprise, the
windows and shutters of the dining-room were once more closed; the men
began to reappear from the interior and resume their stations on the
van; the last closed the door behind his exit; the van drove away; and
the house was once more left to itself, looking blindly on the square
with shuttered windows, as though the whole affair had been a vision.

It was no vision, however; for, as I rose to my feet and thus brought my
eyes a little nearer to the level of the fanlight over the door, I saw
that, though the day had still some hours to run, the hall lamps had
been lighted and left burning. Plainly, then, guests were expected, and
were not expected before night. For whom, I asked myself with
indignation, were such secret preparations likely to be made? Although
no prude, I am a woman of decided views upon morality; if my house, to
which my husband had brought me, was