'  I  need  not  ask  whether  Alice  is  better,'  she  began ;  '  I  can
read  it  in  your  face.  But  has  any  great  change  taken  place
since  yesterday  ? '

In  reply  to  her  question  Harry  told  her  all — told  her  even
more  than  he  had  ever  confessed  to  himself — how,  day  by  day,
his  hopes  had  diminished  and  his  fears  increased,  until,  after
the  physician's  caution  on  the  previous  morning,  he  had  made
up  his  mind  that  the  medical  men  considered  Alice  dying ;
how  he  had  concealed  from  her  that  the  crisis  of  the  complaint
was  at  hand ;  and  how  he  had  passed  the  night  in  an  agony  of
trembling  expectation,  longing  for  and  yet  dreading  the
moment  in  which  she  should  awake ;  together  with  his  delight
when  he  heard  her  pronounce  his  name.
Lord  Alfred  Courtland  set  off  in  high  glee  for  Hazlehurst
Grange,  certain  of  a  hearty  welcome,  as  bearer  of  such  good
tidings,  and  happier,  as  he  declared,  than  he  had  felt  for  the
last  six  months.
A  week  passed  away.  For  two  or  three  days,  Alice  appeared
to  progress  favourably — as  favourably  as  even  her  husband's
anxiety  could  desire.  She  knew  everyone,  and  conversed
reasonably  upon  all  subjects ;  but  with  return  of  consciousness,
a  settled  melancholy  appeared  to  have  taken  possession  of  her.
This,  together  with  her  extreme  weakness,  gave  uneasiness
alike  to  her  indefatigable  nurses,  Harry  and  Emily,  and  to  Dr
Gouger.     Taking  Harry  aside  one  morning,  he  began, —

'  There  are  symptoms  about  Mrs  Coverdale  which  I  cannot
understand,  and  which  appear  to  me  more  mental  than  bodily.
