Ainslie's house. There
were sounds of mirth and music coming from within; and so plastic is the
mind when under a deep and engrossing feeling, that she found no
difficulty in concentrating and modifying these sounds into joyful
articulations from the very mouths of Walter Grierson and Agnes Ainslie
themselves. Such are the moral echoes which respond to, because they are
formed by the suspicions of, disappointed love. No longer for the moment
were Paul's thoughts true. These happy beings inside were happy because
they had the hearts and the wills to enjoy; but she could draw no
conclusion that she herself could dispose her mind for the acceptance of
the world's pleasures also when her gloom should be away among the
shadows, and nature's innumerable enjoyments placed within her power.
Yet, withal, she could execute her commission, and upon the door being
opened, she could enter in the very face of that mirth of which she
fancied herself the victim.
On being shown into a parlour, she was presently waited upon by Mr.
Ainslie, who seemed to her to have come from the scene of enjoyment in
the drawing-room. She could even fancy that he eyed her as in some way
standing in the path of his daughter's expectations through Walter--a
fancy which of course would gain strength from the somewhat excited
manner in which he received the words of her commission, to the effect
that he would repair the next forenoon to the house of the
merchant-burgess, for the purpose of preparing his last will and
testament.
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