Mr. Graham turned scarlet, and saying something in an undertone to Joel, gave his wife his arm, leading her to their room, where he made an excuse for leaving her awhile.  Looking from the window a moment after, Mrs. Graham saw him walking down the street in close conversation with Joel, who, by the way of showing his importance, lifted his white beaver to almost every man he met.  Instantly her curiosity was roused, and when her husband returned, every motion of his was narrowly watched, the espionage resulting in the conviction that there was something in his possession which he did not wish her to see.  Once, when she came unexpectedly upon him, he hastily thrust something into his pocket, appearing so much confused that she resolved to ferret out the secret.

Accordingly, that night, when assured by his heavy breathing that he was asleep, she crept softly from his side, and rummaging his pockets, found a daguerreotype, which by the full moonlight she saw was a fac-simile of the one she had in her possession.  The arrangement of the hair—­everything—­was the same, and utterly confounded, she stood gazing first at one and then at the other, wondering what it meant.  Could ’Lena be in the city?  She thought not, and even if she were, the last daguerreotype was not so much like her, she fancied, as the first.  At all events, she did not dare secrete it as she had done its companion, and stealthily returning it to its place, she crept back to bed.

The next night they reached Woodlawn, where they learned that Mabel was buried that day.  Of course ’Lena could not have been absent from home.  Mrs. Graham felt convinced of that, and gradually the conviction came upon her that another than ’Lena was the original of the daguerreotypes.  And yet she was not generous enough to tell Durward so.  She knew he was deceived—­she wished him to remain so—­and to effect it, she refrained from seeking an explanation from her husband, fearing lest ’Lena should be proved innocent.  Her husband knew there was a misunderstanding between Durward and ’Lena, and if she were to ask him about the pictures, he would, she thought, at once suspect the cause of that misunderstanding, and as a matter of course, exonerate ’Lena from all blame.  The consequence of this she foresaw, and therefore she resolved upon keeping her own counsel, satisfied if in the end she prevented Durward from making ’Lena his wife.

To effect this, she endeavored, during the winter, to keep the matter almost constantly before Durward’s mind, frequently referring to ’Lena’s agitation when she first learned that Mr. Graham had started for Europe.  She had called with her son at Maple Grove on the very day of her husband’s departure.  ’Lena had not met the lady before, since that night in Frankfort, and now, with the utmost hauteur, she returned her nod, and then, too proud to leave the room, resumed her seat near the window directly opposite the divan on which Durward was seated with Carrie.