THE RETURN; OR, WHO IS IT?






SHADOWS FROM A CLOUDED BROW.





A LITTLE thing clouded the brow of Mrs. Abercrombie--a very little
thing. But if she had known how wide the shadows were often
diffused, and how darkly they fell, at times, on some hearts, she
would have striven more earnestly, we may believe, to keep the sky
of her spirit undimmed.

It will not be uninstructive to note the incidents, in a single day,
of Mrs. Abercrombie's life--to mark the early cloud upon her brow,
and then to glance at the darkly falling shadows.

Mr. Abercrombie was a man of sensitive feelings, and though he had
striven for many years to overcome his sensitiveness, he had been no
more able to change this hereditary weakness than the leopard his
spots or the Ethiopian his skin. At home, the lightest jar of
discord disturbed him painfully, and the low vibration ceased not,
often, for many hours. The clouded brow of his wife ever threw his
heart into shadow; and the dusky vail was never removed, until