CHAPTER XV.
Mrs.Costello leaned back in her chair, and Mr.Strafford watched her from under the shadow of his hand.

Since the winter set in she had taken to wear a soft white shawl, and her caps were of a closer, simpler make than they used to be--perhaps these changes made her look older.

It was impossible, too, that she should have passed through the trouble of the last few months without showing its effects to some degree, and yet it seemed to her old friend that there was more alteration than he could see occasion for.

Her face had a weary, worn-out look, and the hand that lay listlessly on the arm of her chair was terribly thin.

Those fainting fits, too, of which Lucia had told him, and the one which she had had that day, were alarming.