"Paul is so unaccountably changed since his visit abroad," she said to her
husband plaintively. "I sometimes wonder, Charles, if we really know all
the people he met."
And Sir Charles had replied, "Nonsense! Henrietta--the lad is a man now,
and immensely improved; do leave him in peace."
But when he was alone the father had smiled to himself--rather sadly--for
he saw a good deal with his shrewd eyes, though he said no words of
sympathy to his son. He knew that Paul was suffering still, perhaps as
keenly as ever, and he honoured his determination to keep it all from view.
So the old year died, and the new one came--and soon February would be
here. Ah! with what passionate anxiety the end of that month was awaited by
Paul, only his own heart knew.
CHAPTER XXV
The days passed on, March had almost come, and Paul heard nothing. His
father noticed the daily look of strain, and his mother anxiously inquired
if he were dull, and if he would not like her to have some people to stay,
and thus divert him in some fashion. And Paul had answered with what grace
he could.
An intense temptation came over him to read all the Court news. He longed
to pick up the ladies' papers he saw in his mother's sitting-room; such
journals, he knew, delighted to publish the doings of royal lives.
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