The arrival of letters at the Cottage was somewhat irregular and uncertain.

Mails from England and the States reached Cacouna in the evening, and if a messenger was sent to the post-office the letters could be had about an hour afterwards.

Since Maurice had been in England, the English mails were eagerly looked for, and Mr.Leigh never failed to send at the very first moment when it was possible there might be news of him.

Lately Maurice's correspondence had been nearly equally divided between his father and Mrs.Costello; and Mr.Leigh had wondered not a little at the fretted impatient humour which showed itself plainly at times in his share of the letters written in that silent and shadowy sickroom at Hunsdon.

But Maurice said nothing to him of the real cause of his discontent--very little of his plan of returning to Cacouna; and it was Mrs.Costello who received the notes which acted as safety valves to his almost irrepressible disturbance of mind.