Uncle Joseph

In course of time Uncle Joseph came as was arranged, and on the day
following Maddy and Guy rode down to see him, finding him a tall,
powerfully built man, retaining many vestiges of manly beauty, and
fully warranting all Mrs. Markham had said in his praise. He seemed
perfectly gentle and harmless, though when Guy was announced as Mr.
Remington, Maddy noticed that in his keen black eyes there was for an
instant a fiery gleam, but it quickly passed away, as he muttered: "Much too young; he was older than I, and I am over forty. It's all
right."

And the fiery eye grew soft and almost sleepy in its expression, as
the poor lunatic turned next to Maddy, telling her how pretty she was,
asking if she were engaged, and bidding her be careful that her
_fiance_ was not more than a dozen years older than herself.

Uncle Joseph seemed to take to her from the very first, following her
from room to room, touching her fair, soft cheeks, smoothing her
silken hair, telling her Sarah's used to curl, asking if she knew
where Sarah was, and finally crying for her as a child cries for its
mother, when at last she went away. Much of this Maddy had repeated to
Jessie, as in the twilight they sat together in the parlor at
Aikenside; and Jessie was not the only listener, for, with her face
resting on her hand, and her head bent eagerly forward, Agnes sat, so
as not to lose a word of what Maddy was saying of Uncle Joseph. The
intelligence that he was coming to the red cottage had been followed
with a series of headaches, so severe and protracted that Dr. Holbrook
had pronounced her really sick, and had been unusually attentive.
Anxiously she had waited for the result of Maddy's visit to the poor
lunatic, and her face was colorless as marble as she heard him
described, while a faint sigh escaped her when Maddy told what he had
said of Sarah.