l that he should have been so
positioned at that moment. Naturally, he glanced first at the bottom,
and saw a name which he immediately recognized as that of one who had
been _in the way_ sometimes at the Crawfords. He had never liked her, or
held any more intercourse with her than was unavoidable with a very
frequent guest at the same house with himself. He had considered her a
little loud in voice, rather rapid, and a _fool_. He had been satisfied
that she told all that she knew, and he would not have been surprised to
find that sometimes she told considerably more. He had considered her
utterly incapable of keen research, and the very last person in the
world to keep a secret, supposing that such a thing could come into her
possession. What did he find here, and from her?

He read that note three times over, standing on the extreme east end of
the piazza, leaning against the corner-board of the house, and with his
face so averted from those at the other end that even if Mary Crawford
once or twice threw a quick glance around, she could see nothing. Then
he turned, shoving the letter into his vest-pocket as he did so, and
walked slowly down the piazza to the hall-door, his face calm, to all
distant appearance, and whistling "_Strida la Vampa_."

If Mary Crawford had not before been able to see his movements, she arose
from her knees as he came down the piazza, and saw him _then_. She saw him
as he passed in at the hall-door, heard him whistle without an apparent
tremor in a note, and heard his slippered steps as he slowly lounged up
the stair towards the room on the second floor which had been for some
months kept as his. The young girl was disappointed--astonished--astounded!
She had seen no agitation--had heard and seen the indications of the
opposite! The blow had not been effectual--it had either been feebly
struck or delivered from a false aim! He was not guilty, or he was beyond
fear and knew himself to be beyond the reach of public exposure! She had
hoped too soon--the bond she dreaded was not broken or even deferred;
and God help her, after all!

Such were the impressions of the young girl, as the man within a few
hours to be her husband disappeared into the hall. Were they well
founded? Ah, young eyes!--you may be schooled to do your part, very
early, but you cannot at once be schooled to read the eyes of others
aright. Perhaps you _never_ learn to read aright, until you lose the
brightness of your own trut