ange of air. He regretted, when
he began his note to Lily, that he had not sent her some flowers. A
momentary impulse to go and see her stayed his hand; but he remembered
that she must be at Mrs. Perche's "sit-down supper" that evening, and
resumed writing. He begged her to enjoy herself, and not miss him
while he was away. He did not know what to write besides, but put in
a few chaotic expressions which might or might not mean a great deal.

While he put a few necessary articles in the valise he wondered where
he should go, never dropping the thought that he must go somewhere.
The remainder of his wardrobe, including the brilliant dressing-gown,
he packed in a trunk and locked it.

He rang the bell, and when the waiter came up asked for the landlady,
Mrs. Semmes. The waiter thought that it was not too late to see her in
her own parlor, and lingered, with his hand on his chin and his eyes
on the valise.

"Jem," said Osgood, "I have left some boots in the closet, and some
shirts in the drawers, which are at your service."

The alacrity with which Jem changed his attitude and expression
struck Osgood with a sense of pain. "How horribly selfish servants
are!" he thought, taking his way down stairs. Mrs. Semmes hoped there
was no trouble, and asked him to be seated. He looked at her
earnestly; she was the only one to say farewell to. Never had he
looked Mrs. Semmes in the face before; he had only seen the hand into
which he had placed the price of his board.

"I came to tell you, Mrs. Semmes, that I am about to leave town for
the present. Will you allow my trunk to remain here? If I do not
return in a year and a day, break it open."

Mrs. Semmes promised to keep the trunk; took some money due her;
wondered at his going away at that time of year, and asked him his
destination.

"I think I shall go to Canada," he answered, vaguely.

"There must be snow there, by the accounts."

"Where shall I go?" he was about to say, but checked himself.

"If you were going East," she continued, "you would find the ground
bare enough, especially in the neighborhood of the sea: the sea-winds
melt the snow almost as soon as it falls."

"I think I will go East," he said, musingly. He sat so long without
saying any thing, staring straight before him, that Mrs. Semmes began
to feel fidgety. She recalled him to the present by walking to the
window. He started, bade her good-by, and retired.

He tossed about all night in a feverish s