sunlight radiated again from her countenance. It was all in vain
that he tried to be indifferent to these changeful moods--to keep
his spirits above their influence: in the very effort at
disenthralment he was more firmly bound.

From some cause, unknown to her husband, there was a cloud on the
brow of Mrs. Abercrombie one morning, as she took her place at the
breakfast-table. Mr. Abercrombie was reading, with his usual
interest, the newspaper, and the children were sporting in the
nursery, when the bell summoned them to the dining-room. All
gathered, with pleasant thoughts of good cheer, around the table,
and Mr. Abercrombie, after helping the little ones, was about
mentioning to his wife some pleasant piece of news which he had just
been reading, when, on lifting his eyes to her countenance, he saw
that it was clouded. The words died on his lips; a shadow darkened
over his feelings, and the meal passed in almost total silence--at
least so far as he was concerned. Once or twice he ventured a remark
to Mrs. Abercrombie; but the half-fretful tone in which she replied,
only disturbed him the more.

Soon the pleasant aspect of the children's countenances changed, and
they became captious and irritable. Both parents were fretted at
this reaction upon their own states of mind, and manifested, at some
slight misconduct on the part of one or two of the children, a
degree of ill-nature that instantly transferred itself to those
against whom it was directed, and became apparent in their
intercourse one with another.

Before summoned from the nursery, these children were playing
together in the utmost harmony and good feeling; on returning