I get in disgrace with my wife every day, now you are not by me to hang up my hat and remind me by a glance to shake the dust from my feet.

Such a quick pulse as this will never do, my child." For a week I was kept in a darkened room, and perfect quietude was commanded.

The doctor came every day, and sometimes several times a day, with his smiling, sunny countenance, and anxious, affectionate heart.
Mrs.Linwood and Edith stole gently in and out, with steps soft as falling snowflakes, and Margaret Melville was not permitted to enter at all.

Every morning fresh flowers were laid upon my pillow, which I knew were gathered by the hand of Ernest, and they whispered to me of such sweet things my languid senses _ached_ to hear them.
One day, while in this passive, languishing, dreamy condition, having fallen into tranquil slumbers, I was left a few moments alone.

I was awakened by a stronger touch than that of Edith's fairy hand.
"Why, how do you do, darling?
How do you do ?" cried a hearty, gay voice, that echoed like a bugle in the stillness of the room.