With these loved ones at home, Eugene talked freely of his sorrows; it was all the solace he had. He could not banish from his mind the feeling that he had indirectly been the cause of Mary’s misfortune, if, indeed, it was a misfortune, which had not yet been demonstrated. Many were the tricks and expedients to which his kind and loving friends resorted to overcome his melancholy. Picnics and parties, visitings and merrymakings, were liberally encouraged. Eugene, to please his mother and sister, attended them all; yet the gloom still hung over him. Independent of his princely fortune, he was a favorite with the ladies of Poppleton. He was a man of noble mien and bearing, and the fairest would have been flattered by his attentions. And now, the wealthiest man of all the region round, he was not only the object of a vast amount of solicitude on the part of managing mothers, but the fair ones, who would willingly have taken him without a “bonus,” fluttered when he smiled, and blushed when he glanced at them. In vain they fluttered, and in vain they blushed. Eugene treated them with the utmost respect and deference, but his heart was away with Mary. Even Mrs. Hungerford and Julia, with the kindest intentions, did not scruple to bring him frequently into the presence of ladies whom they deemed worthy of him, with the hope that he might be fascinated by some one of them; but it was only to steal him away from the corroding care upon which he fed, and win him from the dead thought to which he was still hopelessly wedded. He was calm, and even cheerful most of the time; but the worm still kept on gnawing. It was hoped by all at home that the tour in Europe would produce a salutary effect upon him. Just before Eugene’s departure, Ross Kingman returned from his fishing cruise, and a letter for him, which had lain in the post office, was opened. Carefully as the lover and his friends had striven to conceal his disappointment, the village gossips made all the capital they could of it. The postmaster had shown this letter to Eugene, who at once recognized Mary’s handwriting, and he had impatiently awaited the brother’s return, in order to learn what tidings it contained of the absent one. On the day of his arrival, Eugene went to the island, and had a long interview with Ross, and the letter was shown to him. It was written a month after her arrival at her new home. She spoke of Eliot Buckstone as her husband, and simply assured her brother that she was pleasantly situated; but Eugene, who was permitted to read the letter, saw, or thought he saw, indications that she was not happy. She alluded to her husband in the kindest terms, but she did not speak of him as one of her gentle, loving nature would have spoken, if he had fully realized her hopes and expectations.