Now that a
new life at heart was expressing itself, Martine, as well as
others, could not fail to note the subtile changes. While the dewy
freshness of her girlish bloom was absent, the higher and more
womanly qualities were now revealing themselves. Her nature had
been deepened by her experiences, and the harmony of her life was
all the sweeter for its minor chords.
To Martine she became a wonderful mystery, and he almost
worshipped the woman whose love he believed buried in an unknown
grave, but whose eyes were often so strangely kind. He resumed his
old life, but no longer brooded at home, when the autumn winds
began to blow. He recognized the old danger and shunned it
resolutely. If he could not beguile his thoughts from Helen, it
was but a step to her home, and her eyes always shone with a
luminous welcome. Unless detained by study of the legal points of
some case in hand, he usually found his way over to the Kemble
fireside before the evening passed, and his friends encouraged him
to come when he felt like it. The old banker found the young man
exceedingly companionable, especially in his power to discuss
intelligently the new financial conditions into which the country
was passing.
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