“Of course it is.  You are so changed for the better that I can scarcely believe my eyes or ears, and my heart not at all.  Of course your wishes shall be my law, and my wishes will lead me to seek your acquaintance with deep and undisguised interest.  You see the trouble with me is that I have not changed, and it will require a little time for me to adapt myself to the new order of things.  I am now somewhat stunned and paralyzed.  In this imbecile state I am both stupid and selfish.  I ought to congratulate you, and so I do with all the shattered forces of my mind and reason.  You have improved amazingly.  You are destined to become a belle par excellence, and probably are one now—­I know so little of what has occurred since we parted.”

“You are changed also, Graydon.  You used to be kind in the old days;” and she spoke sadly.

“In some respects I am changed,” he said, earnestly; “and my affection for you is of such long standing and so deep that it prompts me to make another protest.” (They had strolled out upon the grounds and were now alone.) “I have changed in this respect; I am no longer so young as I was, and am losing my zest for general society.  I was weary of residence abroad, where I could have scarcely the semblance of a home, and, while I had many acquaintances and friends, I had no kindred.  I’m sorry to say that the word ‘friend,’ in its reference to young ladies, does not mean very much to me; or, rather, I have learned from experience just what it does mean.  A few years since I was proud of my host of young lady friends, and some I thought would continue to be such through life.  Bah!  They are nearly all married or engaged; their lives have drifted completely away from mine, as it was natural and inevitable that they should.  We are good friends still, but what does it amount to?  I rarely think of them; they never of me, I imagine.  We exert no influence on each other’s lives, and add nothing to them.  I never had a sister, but I had learned to love you as if you were one, and when I heard that you were to be of our family again, the resumption of our old relations was one of my dearest expectations.  It hurt me cruelly, Madge, when you laughed at the idea as preposterous, and told me that I had forgotten myself when following the most natural impulse of my heart.  It seemed to me the result of prudishness, rather than womanly delicacy, unless you have changed in heart as greatly as in externals.  You could be so much to me as a sister.  It is a relationship that I have always craved—­a sister not far removed from me in age; and such a tie, it appears to me, might form the basis of a sympathy and confidence that would be as frank as unselfish and helpful.  That is what I looked forward to in you, Madge.  Why on earth can it not be?”