the breakfast-table next morning, she gave her son a lengthened
account of her husband's great sin in dreaming of a young girl, and
that girl 'Lena Rivers. Durward laughed heartily and then, either to
tease his mother, or to make his father's guilt less heinous in her
eyes, he replied, "It is a little singular that our minds should run
in the same channel, for, I, too, dreamed of 'Lena Rivers!"

Poor Mrs. Graham. A double task was now imposed upon her--that of
watching both husband and son; but she was accustomed to it, for her
life, since her second marriage, had been one continued series of
watching for evil where there was none. And now, with a growing
hatred toward 'Lena, she determined to increase her vigilance,
feeling sure she should discover something if she only continued
faithful to the end.




CHAPTER XIII.

MABEL.

The morning following the party, Mr. Livingstone's family were
assembled in the parlor, discussing the various events of the
previous night. John Jr., 'Lena, and Anna declared themselves to
have been highly pleased with everything, while Carrie in the worst
of humors, pronounced it "a perfect bore," saying she never had so
disagreeable a time in all her life, and ending her ill-natured
remarks by a malicious thrust at 'Lena, for having so long kept Mr.
Bellmont at her side.