o reasonable
person would expect redress from them. But poor James Carey, who had
been credulous and weak, was made of other stuff.

"I'm not easy about Carey," the little doctor confided to his wife. "He
was talking quite in a stupid, dazed way to Russell and me this morning.
Do you observe his eyes? Have you noticed the veins on his forehead and
his throat? I'm far from comfortable about him." (As if he felt
comfortable about anything at this period!) "I question much whether
he'll ever get over it."

The public of Redcross, who could remark the glassy look of the eyes,
though they might not be qualified to speak of the condition of the
veins, were still more struck by the immediate and melancholy effect the
bank's failure had on Mr. Carey, when their attention was drawn to Mrs.
Carey's behaviour. She was a woman who had seldom left her house save
for her daily drive, now she walked out with her husband every fine
afternoon. Her arm was drawn through his; but it was evident at the
merest glance that she was supporting his failing steps and not he hers.
She was a little, thin, somewhat wizened woman, but she looked equal to
the task she had set herself, if a strong will would do it. There was a
peculiarity to be seen in her eyes too, by those who could read the
sign. It was a fixed desperate determination to keep her husband and the
father of her children by sustaining his weakness with her strength, to
fight and vanquish the enemy whose icy touch was already on his heart
and brain.

But although there was little outward demonstration in Redcross, much
inner ferment and growing concern prevailed beneath the surface in what
had been considered the principal houses in Redcross--houses safe and
sure as they were honourable in their ascendancy in the past. After the
affairs of the bank were in the hands of liquidators, and it became
clear that the ruin was great and complete, hope had hardly a hole or
corner left to linger in, even in the hearts of the most simple and
sanguine. The impending changes which must follow became the talk of the
town, extending to circles far beyond that on which the blow had fallen.
Within the narrower limits, the anxious question what was to be done
became the one engrossing, breathless subject of the hour.

Some of the reforms and retrenchments were marked by the spasmodic haste
and severity which are apt to defeat themselves. These formed pendants
to the spurts of grovelling distrust and