"Well, Edward," said he, cheerfully, "what luck did you have with the
old lady? Did she make a pretty fair bill?"

"So-so," returned Claire, with affected indifference; "about thirty
dollars."

"Ah! so much?"

"Yes; and, what is better, I made her pay pretty strong. She was from
the country."

"That'll do." And Jasper rubbed his hands together energetically. "How
much over and above a fair percentage did you get?"

"About five dollars."

"Good, again! You're a trump, Edward."

If Edward Claire was relieved to find that no suspicion had been
awakened in the thoughts of Jasper, he did not feel very strongly
flattered by his approving words. The truth was, at the very moment he
was relating what he had done, there came into his mind, with a
most startling distinctness, the dream of his wife, and the painful
feelings it had occasioned.

"What folly! What madness! Whither am I going?"

These were his thoughts now, born of a quick revulsion of feeling.