upon midnight. Laura turned back into her room, removed
her hat and veil, and tossed them, with her coat, upon the bed. She lit
another burner of the chandelier, and drew a chair to her writing-desk
between the windows.

Her first note was to Landry Court. She wrote it almost with a single
spurt of the pen, and dated it carefully, so that he might know it had
been written immediately after he had left. Thus it ran:

"Please do not try to see me again at any time or under any
circumstances. I want you to understand, very clearly, that I do not
wish to continue our acquaintance."

Her letter to Corthell was more difficult, and it was not until she had
rewritten it two or three times that it read to her satisfaction.

"My dear Mr. Corthell," so it was worded, "you asked me to-night that
our fencing and quibbling be brought to an end. I quite agree with you
that it is desirable. I spoke as I did before you left upon an impulse
that I shall never cease to regret. I do not wish you to misunderstand
me, nor to misinterpret my attitude in any way. You asked me to be your
wife, and, very foolishly and wrongly, I gave you--intentionally--an
answer which might easily be construed into an encouragement.
Understand now that I do not wish you to try to make me love you. I
would find it extremely distasteful. And, believe me, it would be quite
hopeless. I do not now, and never shall care for you as I should care
if I were to be your wife. I beseech you that you will not, in any
manner, refer again to this subject. It would only distress and pain me.

"Cordially yours,

"LAURA DEARBORN."

The letter to Curtis Jadwin was almost to the same effect. But she
found the writing of it easier than the others. In addressing him she
felt herself grow a little more serious, a little more dignified and
calm. It ran as follows:

MY DEAR MR. JADWIN:

"When you asked me to become your wife this evening, you deserved a
straightforward answer, and instead I replied in a spirit of
capriciousness and disingenuousness, which I now earnestly regret, and
which ask you to pardon and to ignore.

"I allowed myself to tell you that you might find encouragement in my
foolishly spoken words. I am deeply sorry that I should have so
forgotten what was due to my own self-respect and to your sincerity.

"If I have permitted myself to convey to you the impression that I
would ever be willing to be your wife, let me hasten to correct it.
Whatever I said t