night spent in the promising house I was so eager to enter.

An old serving-man, with a countenance which struck me pleasantly
enough at the time, opened the door in response to my ring, only
to make instant way for Mayor Packard, who advanced from some
near-by room to greet me. By this thoughtful attention I was
spared the embarrassment from which I might otherwise have
suffered.

His few words of greeting set me entirely at my ease, and I was
quite ready to follow him when a moment later he invited me to
meet Mrs. Packard.

"I can not promise you just the reception you naturally look
for," said he, as he led me around the stairs toward an opening
at their rear, "but she's a kind woman and can not but be struck
with your own kind spirit and quiet manner."

Happily, I was not called upon to answer, for at that moment the
door swung open and he ushered me into a room flooded brilliantly
with the last rays of the setting sun. The woman who sat in its
glow made an instant and permanent impression upon me. No one
could look intently upon her without feeling that here was a
woman of individuality and power, overshadowed at present by the
deepest melancholy. As she rose and faced us I decided instantly
that her husband had not exaggerated her state of mind. Emotion
of no ordinary nature disturbed the lines of her countenance and
robbed her naturally fine figure of a goodly portion of its
dignity and grace; and though she immediately controlled herself
and assumed the imposing aspect of a highly trained woman, ready,