Their daily intercourse was now
to be broken up, the moment of adieu drew nigh, and the prospect of
future meeting was, to say the least, precarious. Was it strange that
some sharp pangs of regret filled their hearts?
Mr. Lansdowne, who had up to this time been wholly occupied with his
preparations for departure, was sitting, in an attitude betokening
weariness and despondency, leaning his arms upon a table, shading his
face with his hand. A few days of grief and anxiety had greatly
changed him. He looked pale and languid, but Adele thought, as she
occasionally glanced at him from the sofa opposite, that she had never
seen his countenance so clothed with spiritual beauty.
Mr. Dubois, who had not yet spoken to his friends of his intention to
remove to France, now broke the heavy silence, by announcing his
purpose to leave, in the course of a week, and return with his family
to Picardy.
Mr. Lansdowne started suddenly and uttered a slight exclamation. Adele
looked at him involuntarily. He was gazing at her intently. The
strange light again glowed in his eyes. Her own fell slowly. She could
not keep her lids lifted beneath his gaze.
After the plans of Mr. Dubois had been discussed, mutual inquiries and
communications respecting future prospects were made, until the
evening hours were gone.
"If my life is spared, I shall come here and spend another season, as
I have spent the one just closing", said Mr. Norton.
Thus they parted for the night.
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