"You have been riding all day; have you dined?"
He arrested her movement towards the bell. "What are you about to do?"
"Order refreshments for yourself, and have your horse put up."
"'Entertainment for man and beast?'" he responded, with a sickly smile. "I dined on the road—my steed ditto; and he can stand where he is for a half-hour."
"Half-an-hour, Mr. Copeland! You are not in the city!"
"But my visit must be short. How has the world treated you since our parting?"
"Excellently well!" said she, gaily, but secretly ill at ease at the alteration she observed in him. His manner to her was subduedly respectful; but a reckless, blasé air hung about him, token of carelessness or dissipation.
"Your friends at home are well, I hope," she said.
"Quite well. Helen—" the remembered cloud lowered gloomily—"sent her regards."