The trees were in blossom; birds were filling the air with
delicious melody, but not a leaf stirred.
The Chapman family were up before the sun that morning, and the whole
house was astir ere Bowling Green had fairly waked up, or the din of
Broadway had broken the stillness. Chapman had spent a restless night,
and seemed sad and downcast, as if some trouble he would fain conceal
was weighing on his mind. He breakfasted alone that morning, and went to
business an hour earlier than usual, promising to return at one o'clock.
He returned, however, at twelve, and in such a state of distress as to
alarm the whole house. Indeed he entered the house more like a madman
than a philosopher, and so alarmed Bowles by the wildness of his manner
and appearance, that he proceeded in a state of great excitement to
inform his mistress. When, then, that lady entered the parlor she found
her husband stretched on the sofa, with his right hand pressing his
forehead, and apparently in a state of great distress. To her repeated
enquiries as to what produced this great distress, he would only answer
by shaking his head and giving vent to the most pitiful groans.
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