Major Steele sat down beside Lady Caroline and began to recount the discovery he had made--what a miracle had occurred on his behalf, and what a paragon among infants was his new found daughter. 'Mary Brown's baby! your daughter?' cried Lady Caroline. 'That is perfectly delightful! Would you like me to send over for it, that you may have it here under your own eye?' She was probably not very sorry, however, that Major Steele thought it would be better for him to make a daily visit to his offspring, until he could arrange to remove it to Edinburgh. The two elder men were agreeably surprised by the brightened manner of their guest. He seemed transformed since morning from a dismal hypochondriac, into a person cheerful and companionable; or, as Captain John put it, 'he seemed to have completely picked himself up.' He in particular was well pleased to meet some one who could talk to him of India, and enable him to live over again the years he spent there in his youth. It followed that they sat longer than usual in the dining room, drank their coffee there, and adjourned straight to the smoking room, so that the ladies saw no more of them that evening. This was just as well for Julia, whose artistic soul had been sadly jarred by finding herself pitched in a wrong key. It took her hours to modulate down into a more everyday state of feeling,--for there must be a kind of feeling at the back even of make-believe emotion, if it is to be a successful representation. But that was only part of what she would have to do. The spectator must be led down by easy gradation, or her revulsion from pensive melancholy to a chastened cheerfulness might seem abrupt, intentional, and ridiculous. Artificial feeling has this advantage in displaying itself, that it is single, and free from the complexities and contradictions which confuse and distract the real, in its manifestation; and hence grief on the stage is often beautiful, while in private life it is generally revolting and grotesque. But this very singleness and clear definition makes it more difficult for the artificial to change front; while the real, having been always blurred and muddy and indistinct, can readily transfer itself to a new category. The floating cloud passes readily enough from the form of an eagle to a ship, a horse or a whale; but clay once trimmed and modelled into a given shape must be broken down and worked up afresh in order to take a new form. Julia therefore kept in the background for a day or two, before coming forward prominently in a new rôle. Prominence, however, was by no means so very easy now. Since Major Steele's mind had recovered a healthier tone, the men in the house were all eager for his company. The General had Blue-Books and Reports of the Board of Control on which he desired information, and Captain John talked pig-sticking and tigerhunts by the hour.