CHAPTER VII.
We will go back to the last evening at Exeter, when we left Mr.Weston to witness the result of Bacchus's attendance at the barbecue.

There were other hearts busy in the quiet night time.

Alice, resisting the offers of her maid to assist her in undressing, threw herself on a lounge by the open window.

The night air played with the curtains, and lifted the curls from her brow.

Her bloom, which of late had been changeful and delicate, had now left her cheek, and languid and depressed she abandoned herself to thought.
So absorbed was she, that she was not aware any one had entered the room, until her mother stood near, gently reproving her for thus exposing herself to the night air.