CHAPTER IV.
As on the previous evening, Mrs.Claire was alone for some time later than usual, but now with an anxious, almost fearful looking for her husband's return.

Suddenly she had taken the alarm.

A deep, brooding shadow was on her heart, though she could not see the bird of night from whose wings it had fallen.

Frequently, during the afternoon, tears had wet her cheek; and when an old friend of her mother's, who lived in the country, and who had come to the city in order to make a few purchases, called to see her, it was with difficulty she could hide her disturbed feelings from observation.
The absent one came in at last, and with so much of the old, frank, loving spirit in his voice and manner, that the troubled heart of Mrs.
Claire beat with freer pulsations.

And yet something about her husband appeared strange.