V. portmanteaus brought one or the other of these emotions
to the tenants of the Dudley mansion, it might not be easy to settle.
Elsie professed to be pleased with the thought of having an adventurous
young stranger, with stories to tell, an inmate of their quiet, not to
say dull, family. Under almost any other circumstances, her father would
have been unwilling to take a young fellow of whom he knew so little
under his roof; but this was his nephew, and anything that seemed like to
amuse or please Elsie was agreeable to him. He had grown almost
desperate, and felt as if any change in the current of her life and
feelings might save her from some strange paroxysm of dangerous mental
exaltation or sullen perversion of disposition, from which some fearful
calamity might come to herself or others.
Dick had been several weeks at the Dudley mansion. A few days before, he
had made a sudden dash for the nearest large city,--and when the Doctor
met him, he was just returning from his visit.
It had been a curious meeting between the two young persons, who had
parted so young and after such strange relations with each other.
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