Afterwards--for close upon the coming of every grief, however great,
fall the slow, dull footsteps of Afterwards--, the bereaved Macleod
family took up again the occupations and interests of life in the
benumbed fashion of those whose nerves are slow in recovering the
effect of a great shock. Edward alone bore a brave front, though his
heart at times failed him. He was something of a puzzle to the friend
of his sister, who could not reconcile the tears which she saw in his
eyes one moment to the jest she heard from his lips the next, and who
marvelled in secret that the utter abandon of his grief at the bedside
of his dying mother had not been followed by a state of settled
melancholy after her death. To the cool, steadfast nature of
Mademoiselle DeBerczy this alternate light and shade, gaiety and
grief, in the heart of Rose, as well as of her brother, was difficult
to understand; but now she began faintly to perceive that to their
ardent temperament sunshine came as naturally as it did to the first
day of spring, which, while it ached with the remembrance of winter,
could not wholly repress on that account its natural brightness.
Certainly Edward Macleod, though his unusually pale face gave evidence
of the suffering which he had lately experienced--nay, which he was
even now experiencing--could not say that life for him was utterly
without consolation. For the sake of the stricken household, for the
sake of her who had left them desolate, he would be a man; and, being
that complex creature, a man, involves not only the lofty virtues of
courage and self-forgetfulness, but also a tender susceptibility to
the charms of these perfect spring days, and to the no less alluring
charms of a maiden in the spring-time of youth.

Nearly a week had elapsed since the funeral of Mrs. Macleod, and now a