prepare as we may to receive the waves of the sea when we bathe in its
margin, and skillful as we may believe ourselves in buffeting or
avoiding them, there comes one now and then with a strength and
suddenness that sweeps us from our feet, overthrows us, and lays us
prostrate at the sandy bottom of the ocean, to emerge therefrom half
stifled with the bitter brine.

Such experience was destined to be mine before many hours.




CHAPTER V.


Mr. Gerald Stanbury had been especially invited to attend the reading of
my father's will, by a polite note from Mr. Bainrothe, in which the
interest that both bore in this testament was plainly set forth. With
the exception of our excellent old neighbor and the two Mr. Bainrothes,
the circle assembled for the solemn occasion was composed entirely of
Mr. Monfort's household and was truly a funereal one. I wore my
deep-mourning dress for the first time that day, and Mabel, similarly
attired, sat beside me. Claude Bainrothe was alone on a distant sofa.

Evelyn assumed my father's chair, and wore, with the weeds customary to
widows, a demeanor of great dignity and reserve suitable to the head of
the family. Mr. Gerald Stanbury had a seat near mine, on which he sat
uneasily, and Mrs. Austin, Franklin, and Morton, were ranged together
stiffly in chairs placed against the wall, likewise attired in deep
mourning. Mr. Bainrothe was seated near the study-table, looking