As well as he was able, Mr. Graham tried to comfort her, but in spite of his endeavors, there was still at her heart the same dull, heavy pain, and most anxiously Mr. Graham watched her, waiting impatiently for the time when she would be able to start for home, as he hoped a change of place and scene would do much toward restoring both her health and spirits.  Soon after his arrival at Laurel Hill, Mr. Graham had written to Mr. Livingstone, telling him what he had before told his wife, and adding, “Of course, my daughter’s home will in future be with me, at Woodlawn, where I shall be happy to see yourself and family at any time.”

This part of the letter he showed to ’Lena, who, after reading it, seemed for a long time absorbed in thought.

“What is it, darling?  Of what are you thinking?” Mr. Graham asked, at length, and ’Lena, taking the hand which he had laid gently upon her forehead, replied, “I am thinking of poor grandmother.  She is not happy, now, at Maple Grove.  She will be more unhappy should I leave her, and if you please, I would rather stay there with her.  I can see you every day.”

“Do you suppose me cruel enough to separate you from your grandmother?” interrupted Mr. Graham.  “No, no, I am not quite so bad as that.  Woodlawn is large—­there are rooms enough—­and grandma shall have her choice, provided it is a reasonable one.”

“And your wife—­Mrs. Graham?  What will she say?” timidly inquired ’Lena, involuntarily shrinking from the very thought of coming in contact with the little lady who had so recently come up before her in the new and formidable aspect of stepmother!

Mr. Graham did not know himself what she would say, neither did he care.  The fault of his youth once confessed, he felt himself a new man, able to cope with almost anything, and if in the future his wife objected to what he knew to be right, it would do her no good, for henceforth he was to rule his own house.  Some such thoughts passed through his mind, but it would not be proper, he knew, to express himself thus to ’Lena, so he laughingly replied, “Oh, we’ll fix that, easily enough.”

At the time he wrote to Mr. Livingstone, he had also sent a letter to his wife, announcing his safe return from Europe, and saying that he should be at home as soon as ’Lena’s health would admit of her traveling.  Not wishing to alarm her unnecessarily, he merely said of Durward, that he had found him at Laurel Hill.  To this letter Mrs. Graham replied immediately, and with a far better grace than her husband had expected.  Very frankly she confessed the unkind part she had acted toward ’Lena, and while she said she was sorry, she also spoke of the reaction which had taken place in the minds of Lena’s friends, who, she said, would gladly welcome her back,