So now, the house, to his mind, had a most pleasing andcomfortable appearance. In the hall he found an evening paper,laid there by the maid and forgotten by Mrs. Hurstwood. In thedining-room the table was clean laid with linen and napery andshiny with glasses and decorated china. Through an open door hesaw into the kitchen, where the fire was crackling in the stoveand the evening meal already well under way. Out in the smallback yard was George, Jr., frolicking with a young dog he hadrecently purchased, and in the parlour Jessica was playing at thepiano, the sounds of a merry waltz filling every nook and cornerof the comfortable home. Every one, like himself, seemed to haveregained his good spirits, to be in sympathy with youth andbeauty, to be inclined to joy and merry-making. He felt as if hecould say a good word all around himself, and took a most genialglance at the spread table and polished sideboard before goingupstairs to read his paper in the comfortable armchair of thesitting-room which looke