This may have grieved him; but, according to my faithful friend and attorney, it appeared to have the contrary effect, and to bring him positive relief.

When it was borne in on him, as it was soon to be borne in on all, that her mind was not what it was, and that the beautiful Carmel had lost something besides her physical perfection in the awful calamity which had made shipwreck of the whole family, he grew noticeably more cheerful and less suspicious in his manner.

Was it because the impending inquiry must go on without her, and proceedings, which had halted till now, be pushed with all possible speed to a finish?
So those who watched him interpreted his changed mood, with a result not favourable to him.
With this new shock of Carmel's inability to explain her own part in this tragedy and thus release my testimony and make me a man again in my own eyes, I lost the sustaining power which had previously held me up.

I became apathetic; no longer counting the hours, and thankful when they passed.

Arthur had not been arrested; but he understood--or allowed others to see that he understood, the reason for the surveillance under which he was now strictly kept; and, though he showed less patience than myself under the shameful suspicion which this betokened, he did not break out into open conflict with the authorities, nor did he protest his innocence, or take any other stand than the one he had assumed from the first.
All this gave me much food for thought, but I declined to think.