She  appeared,  to  have  been  weeping — at
least  the  efforts  she  made  to  appear  easy
and  in  good  spirits  contrasted  a  good  deal
with  the  expression  of  her  features  as  I
came  in.  To  my  inquiries  for  Mrs.  Bing-
ham, I  received  for  answer  that  the  friends
Mrs.  Bingham  had  expected  having  left  a
few  days  before  for  Baden,  she  had  resolv-
ed on  following  them,  and  had  now  merely
driven  out  to  make  a  few  purchases  before
her  departure,  which  was  to  take  place  in
the  morning.
There  is  something  so  sad  in  the  thought
of  being  deserted  and  left  by  one's  friends
under  any  circumstances,  that  I  cannot
express  how  much  this  intelligence  affect-
ed me.  It  seemed,  too,  like  the  last  drop
of  bad  news  filling  up  the  measure,  that  I
was  to  be  suddenly  deprived  of  the  society
of  the  very  few  friends  about  me,  just  as  1
stood  most  in  need  of  them.
Whether  or  not  Miss  Bingham  noticed
my  embarrassment,  I  cannot  say  ;  but  cer-
tainly she  seemed  not  displeased,  and  there
was  in  the  half-encouraging  tone  of  her
manner  something  which  led  me  to  suspect
that  she  was  not-  dissatisfied  with  the  im-
pression her  news  seemed  to  produce  upon
me.
Without  at  all  alluding  to  my  own  im-
proved fortune,  or  to  the  events  of  the
preceding  night,  I  began  to  talk  over  the
coming  journey,  and  expressed  my  sincere
regret  that,  having  lost  my  passport  under
circumstances  which  might  create  some
delay,  I  could  not  join  their  party  as  I
should  otherwise  have  done.
