More Clouds

Since the morning when Durward had so boldly avowed himself 'Lena's
champion, her health and spirits began to improve. That she was not
wholly indifferent to him she had every reason to believe, and
notwithstanding the strong barrier between them, hope sometimes
whispered to her of a future, when all that was now so dark and
mysterious should be made plain. But while she was thus securely
dreaming, a cloud, darker and deeper than any which had yet
overshadowed her, was gathering around her pathway. Gradually had
the story of her ride to Captain Atherton's gained circulation,
magnifying itself as it went, until at last it was currently reported
that at several different times had she been seen riding away from
Sunnyside at unseasonable hours of the night, the time varying from
nine in the evening to three in the morning according to the
exaggerating powers of the informer.

But few believed it, and yet such is human nature, that each and
every one repeated it to his or her neighbor, until at last it
reached Mrs. Graham, who, forgetting the caution of her son, said,
with a very wise look, that "she was not at all surprised--she had
from the first suspected 'Lena, and she had the best of reasons for
so doing!"

Of course Mrs. Graham's friend was exceedingly anxious to know what
she meant, and by dint of quizzing, questioning and promising never
to tell, she at last drew out just enough of the story to know that
Mr. Graham had a daguerreotype which looked just like 'Lena, and that
Mrs. Graham had no doubt whatever that she was in the habit of
writing to him. This of course was repeated, notwithstanding the
promise of secrecy, and many of the neighbors suddenly remembered
some little circumstance trivial in itself, but all going to swell
the amount of evidence against poor 'Lena, who, unconscious of the
gathering storm, did not for a time observe the sidelong glances cast
toward her whenever she appeared in public.