the lover of her youth; and it is an odd and
not a very gratifying sign of the weakness of
the human heart to think that Marian had
frequently taken credit to herself for the
sense of wifely duty which had induced her
to eliminate all memories of early days, and
all recollections of Walter Joyce, from her
mind. Her husband was very much her
senior; she could not have hoped that he
would live very long, and if he were to be
removed—— . There was, however, no question
of that at present. Within a few days
of the attack to which Dr. Osborne had
been called, Mr. Creswell had recovered
consciousness, and gradually had so far
mended as to be able to take interest in
what was passing round him. One of
his first expressed wishes was to see Mr.
Benthall, and when that gentleman, who
was very much touched by the sight of the
old man's altered expression, and wandering
eyes, and strange twitching face, was
left alone with him, he asked hurriedly,
but earnestly, for news of the girls, his
nieces, and seemed much relieved when
he heard they were well and happy. To
Marian her husband's manner was
wonderfully altered. He was kind always,
occasionally affectionate, but he seemed to
have lost all that utter trust, that reliant
worship, which had so characterised his
attentions to her in the early days of their
marriage. Of the election he spoke freely,
expressing his sorrow for the disappointment
which his friends would suffer owing
to his forced defection, and his pleasure
that, since a representative of opposite
politics must necessarily be chosen, the
town would have the advantage of returning
a man with the high character which
he had heard on all sides ascribed to Mr.
Joyce. When, on the evening of the
nomination day, Mr. Teesdale waited on
his chief, and detailed to him all that
had taken place, dwelling on the mention
which Joyce had made of his absent
opponent, and the high opinion which he
had expressed of him, the old gentleman
was very much moved, and sank back on
his pillows perfectly overcome. Marian by
no means appreciated Mr. Teesdale that
evening, and got rid of him as soon as
possible. She was much pained at the
display of what she considered her
husband's weakness, and determined on following
Dr. Osborne's advice as to removing
him as soon as he was able to travel. It
was noted just at that time that Mrs.
Creswell spoke far more favourably of her
husband's state of health than she had
done for some time previously, and
betrayed an unmistakable desire to get him
away from Brocksopp neighbourhood and
influences without delay.

When Dr. Osborne was consulted on the
matter, he said that as the election, which
was the greatest risk of excitement for his
patient, had now passed by, it would
depend greatly on Mr. Creswell' s own feelings
and wishes as to whether he should
leave his home. A change would most
probably be beneficial; but the doctor
knew that his old friend had always been
wedded to his home, and had a great aversion
to being away from it when no absolute
necessity for his absence existed.
However, Mr. Creswell, when appealed to,
seemed to have lost any vivid interest in
this as in all other matters of his life. He
answered, mechanically, that he would do
just as they thought best, that he had no
feeling one way or the other about it, only
let them decide. He said this in the
wearied tone which had now become
habitual to him; and he looked at them with
dim, lustreless eyes, out of which all
expression seemed to have faded. Dr.
Osborne tried to rouse him, but with such
little success that he began to think Mr.
Creswell's malady must have made rapid
progress, and he took an early opportunity
of submitting him to another examination.

Marian was not aware of this. She met
the doctor coming out of her husband's
room. They were on semi-friendly terms
now, and she said to him:

"I was coming to you, doctor, this afternoon.
I have just settled to take Mr.
Creswell away for a few weeks, but of
course I wanted you to see him before he
went. And now you have seen him?"

"Yes; I have just left him."

"And what do you say?"

"I say that he must not be moved, Mrs.
Creswell; that he must remain here at
home, with every comfort that he may
require, and that he must be carefully watched
and tended by us all."

"Do you find him changed—for the
worse?  I thought myself that I had
noticed during the last few days——Do
you apprehend any immediate danger?"

"He is very much changed for the
worse; the disease has made great progress,
and if he were suddenly disturbed or
excited I would not answer for the
consequences."

"I did right, then, in refusing Mr. Teesdale
access to him, yesterday. There is
some disputed election account, and Mr.