ying in a hammock and Helene is reading to him, while
Harry paints her portrait. Oh, dear--I _love_ Harry Annan, but he can't
paint!

"Dearest--as I sit here in my room with the chintz curtains blowing and
the sun shining on the vines outside my open windows, I am thinking of
you; and my girl's heart is very full--very humble in the wonder of your
love for me--a miracle ever new, ever sweeter, ever holier.

"I pray that it be given to me to see the best way for your happiness
and your welfare; I pray that I may not be confused by thought of self.

"Dear, the spring is going very swiftly. I can scarcely believe that May
is already here--is already passing--and that the first of June is so
near.

"Will you _always_ love me? Will you always think tenderly of
me--happily--! Alas, it is a promise nobody can honestly make. One can
be honest only in wishing it may be so.

"Dearest of men, the great change is near at hand--nearer than I can
realise. Do you still want me? Is the world impossible without me? Tell
me so, Louis; tell me so now--and in the years to come--very
often--very, very often. I shall need to hear you say it; I understand
now how great my need will be to hear you say it in the years to come."

Writing to him in a gayer mood a week later:

"It is perfectly dear of you to tell me to remain. I _do_ miss you; I'm
simply wild to see you; but I am getting so strong, so well, so
deliciously active and vigorous again. I _was_ rather run down in town.
But in the magic of this air and sunshine I have watched the
reincarnation of myself. I swim, I row, I am learning to sit a horse; I
play tennis--_and_ I flirt, Monsieur--shamelessly, with Sam and Harry.
Do you object--

"We had such a delightful time--a week-end party, perfectly informal and
crazy; Mrs. Hind-Willet--who is such a funny woman, considering the
position she might occupy in society--and Jose Querida--just six of us,
until--and this I'm afraid you may not like--Mrs. Hind-Willet telephoned
Penrhyn Cardemon to come over.

"You know, Louis, he _seems_ a gentleman, though it is perfectly certain
that he isn't. I hate and despise him; and have been barely civil to
him. But in a small company one has to endure such things with outward
equanimity; and I am sure that nobody suspects my contempt for him and
that my dislike has not caused one awkward moment."

She wrote again:

"I beg of you not to suggest to your sister that she call on me. Try to
be re