When he came to the fifth his attention, which had hitherto wandered toward Magdalen, suddenly became fixed on the post-mark of the letter.
Stooping over him, with her head on his shoulder, Magdalen could see the post-mark as plainly as her father saw it--NEW ORLEANS.
"An American letter, papa!" she said.

"Who do you know at New Orleans ?" Mrs.Vanstone started, and looked eagerly at her husband the moment Magdalen spoke those words.
Mr.Vanstone said nothing.

He quietly removed his daughter's arm from his neck, as if he wished to be free from all interruption.

She returned, accordingly, to her place at the breakfast-table.

Her father, with the letter in his hand, waited a little before he opened it; her mother looking at him, the while, with an eager, expectant attention which attracted Miss Garth's notice, and Norah's, as well as Magdalen's.
After a minute or more of hesitation Mr.Vanstone opened the letter.
His face changed color the instant he read the first lines; his cheeks fading to a dull, yellow-brown hue, which would have been ashy paleness in a less florid man; and his expression becoming saddened and overclouded in a moment.