The change in Mr. Dewey's appearance, after it became a settled
thing that he must remove from the splendid mansion he had occupied
for years, was remarkable. He lost the impressive swagger that
always said, "I am the first man in S----;" and presented the
appearance of one who had suffered some great misfortune, without
growing better under the discipline. He did not meet you with the
free, open, better-than-you look that previously characterized him,
but with a half sidelong falling of the eyes, in which there was, to
me, something very sinister.
As far as our observation went, Mr. Wallingford put on no new phase
of character. There was about him the same quiet, thoughtful dignity
of manner which had always commanded involuntary respect. He showed
no unseemly haste in dispossessing Mr. Dewey of his elegant home.
Two months after the title deeds had passed, I called in at Ivy
Cottage, now one of the sweetest, little places in S----, for
Constance, who had been passing the evening there. Not in any home,
through all the region round, into which it was my privilege to
enter, was there radiant, like a warm, enticing atmosphere that
swelled your lungs with a new vitality, and gave all your pulses a
freer beat, such pure love--maternal and conjugal--as pervaded this
sanctuary of the heart.
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