"I stopped a while at the hotel on my return," he replied.

"Did my husband send any message?" Mrs. Jocelyn asked, with a
solicitude she could not disguise.

"He told me to say that I had left him well, and safely on his way
to the city."

"Did--did he seem well when you left him?" the anxious wife persisted.

"Quite as well as he did yesterday, I think," was the reply.

"Mr. Atwood," said Mildred, in a tone that startled him a little,
and he saw she was looking at him as if she would read his thoughts,
"did my father truly appear well when you parted from him?"

Roger's eyes fell before hers, but he replied firmly, "I left him
sitting quietly on the steamboat's deck, and when I asked him if
he had any message for his family, he said the words I have just
repeated. He seemed naturally depressed at leaving you all. If he
were not well he did not say anything about it;" and with a bow he
passed up to his room.

"Mother," said Mildred, when they were alone, "was it mere
diffidence, or why was it, that he could not look me in the eyes?
I wonder if he is concealing anything. It was in the afternoon and
evening that papa was unlike himself yesterday. I wish I really
knew whether or not that young man is hiding anything, for I have
an impression that he is."