Granger had a
peculiar affection.
It will be seen, therefore, that Clarissa was at least a dutiful wife,
anxious to give her husband every tribute that gratitude and a deep sense
of obligation could suggest. Even Sophia Granger, always on the watch
for some sign of weariness or shortcoming, could discover no cause for
complaint in her stepmother's conduct.
Mr. Lovel came back to Mill Cottage in December, much improved and
renovated by the Belgian waters or the gaieties of the bright little
pleasure place. The sense of having made an end of his difficulties, and
being moored in a safe harbour for the rest of his life, may have done much
towards giving him a new lease of existence. Whatever the cause may have
been, he was certainly an altered man, and his daughter rejoiced in the
change. To her his manner was at once affectionate and deferential, as
if there had been lurking in his breast some consciousness that she had
sacrificed herself for his welfare. She felt this, and felt that her
marriage had given her something more than Arden Court, if it had won for
her her father's love. He spent some time at the Court, in deference to her
wishes, during those dark winter months; and they fell hack on their old
readings, and the evenings seemed gayer and happier for the introduction
of this intellectual element, which was not allowed to prevail to such an
extant as to overpower the practical Daniel Granger.
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