She sat sewing in the parlor, as it was called--the common sitting-room of the house--by the west window.

The whole arrangement of the room was hers; and though Albert was neither an artist nor a critic in matters of taste, he was, as I have already indicated, a man of fine susceptibility.

He rejoiced in this susceptibility when it enabled him to appreciate nature.

He repressed it when he found himself vibrating in sympathy with those arts that had, as he thought, relations with human weakness and vanity; as, for instance, the arts of music and dress.

But, resist as one may, a man can not fight against his susceptibilities.