His orders to the servant who came to take his horse had been given in a lower and more subdued key than usual, and his greeting to herself, though perfectly kind and respectful, was grave and absent in manner; and now his thoughts seemed far away, and the expression of his countenance was sad and troubled.
"What ails you, Edward--is anything wrong, my son ?" she asked, laying her hand on his shoulder, and looking into his face with her loving, motherly eyes.
"Nothing with _me_ mother," he answered affectionately; "but," he added, with a deep-drawn sigh, "I am sorely troubled about my little friend.

I called at Roselands this afternoon, and learned that Horace Dinsmore has gone North--to be absent nobody knows how long--leaving her at home.

He has been gone nearly a week, and the child is--heart-broken." "Poor darling! is she really so much distressed about it, Edward ?" his mother asked, taking off her spectacles to wipe them, for they had suddenly grown dim.

"You saw her, I suppose ?" "Yes, for a moment," he said, struggling to control his feelings.
"Mother, you would hardly know her for the child she was six months ago! she is so changed, so thin and pale--but that is not the worst; she seems to have lost all her life and animation.

I felt as though it would be a relief even to see her cry.