And Claire replaced the money in his pocket. In a little while
afterward, he left the store, and took his way homeward.




CHAPTER IV.


As on the previous evening, Mrs. Claire was alone for some time later
than usual, but now with an anxious, almost fearful looking for her
husband's return. Suddenly she had taken the alarm. A deep, brooding
shadow was on her heart, though she could not see the bird of night
from whose wings it had fallen. Frequently, during the afternoon,
tears had wet her cheek; and when an old friend of her mother's, who
lived in the country, and who had come to the city in order to make
a few purchases, called to see her, it was with difficulty she could
hide her disturbed feelings from observation.

The absent one came in at last, and with so much of the old, frank,
loving spirit in his voice and manner, that the troubled heart of Mrs.
Claire beat with freer pulsations. And yet something about her husband
appeared strange. There was a marked difference between his state of
mind now, and on the evening before. Even at dinner-time he was silent
and abstracted.

In fact, Edward Claire was, for the first time, acting a part toward
his wife; and, as in all such cases, there was sufficient over-action
to betray the artifice, or, at least, to awaken a doubt. Still, Edith
was greatly relieved by the change, and she chided herself for having