He was there; and being presently convinced that he was in the
neighbourhood of his little friend of former days, he resolved
with his own excellent eyes to test the truth of the opinion
he had formed as to the natural and inevitable effect of
circumstances upon her character; whether it could by
possibility have retained its great delicacy and refinement,
under the rough handling and unkindly bearing of things
seemingly foreign to both. He had thought not.

Truffi did not sing, and the entertainment was of a very
secondary quality. This seemed to give no uneasiness to the
Miss Evelyns, for if they pouted, they laughed and talked in
the same breath, and that incessantly. It was nothing to Mr.
Carleton, for his mind was bent on something else. And with a
little surprise, he saw that it was nothing to the subject of
his thoughts, either because her own were elsewhere, too, or
because they were in league with a nice taste, that permitted
them to take no interest in what was going on. Even her eyes,
trained as they had been to recluse habits, were far less busy
than those of her companions; indeed, they were not busy at
all; for the greater part of the time, one hand was upon the
brow, shielding them from the glare of the gas-lights.
Ostensibly — but the very quiet air of the face led him to
guess that the mind was glad of a shield too. It relaxed
sometimes. Constance, and Florence, and Mr. Thorn, and Mr.
Thorn's mother, were every now and then making demands upon
her, and they were met always with an intelligent well-bred
eye, and often with a smile of equal gentleness and character;
but her observer noticed that though the smile came readily,
it went as readily, and the lines of the face quickly settled