that strain of painful attention which had for its focus their
mother's stony face. Mrs. Harrington, who, in her youthful freshness
and dimpled beauty, might have relieved the universal sombreness of
the scene, was not in the room all day; but whether this was on
account of her inability to confront sickness and trouble, or
whether it was the result of the wishes of her brothers, I have
never been able to decide; probably the latter, for, though she was
a woman of frivolous mind, she had a due sense of the proprieties,
and was never known to violate them except under the stress of
another will more powerful than her own.

At last, as the day waned, and what light there was gradually
vanished from the shadowy chamber, Guy made a movement of
discouragement, and, rising from his place, approached his brother,
dropped a word in his ear, and quietly left the room. The relief I
felt was instantaneous. It was like having one coil of an oppressive
nightmare released from my breast. Dwight, on the contrary, who had
sat like a statue ever since the room began to darken, showed no
evidence of being influenced by this change, and, convinced that any
movement towards a more cheerful order of things must come from me,
I rose, and, without consulting his wishes, dropped the curtains and
lighted the lamp. The instant I had done so I saw why he was so
silent and immovable. Overcome by fatigue, and possibly by a long
strain of suppressed emotion, he had fallen asleep, and, ignorant of
the fact that Guy had left the room, slumbered as peacefully as if
no break had occurred in the mysterious watch they had hitherto so
uninterruptedly maintained over their mother and me.

The peacefulness of his sleeping face made a deep impression upon
me. Though I knew that with his waking the old look would come back,