.

There was a delay; Julia rapped an impatient slipper on the floor, and
rattled the hook.

"Western Union, please," she said, a moment later; "I want to send a
telegram."

An interval of silence followed. Julia sat staring blankly at the wall.
Then she rattled the hook again.

"No matter about that number, Central; I've changed my mind," she said.
She walked irresolutely into the middle of the room, stood there a
moment frowning, and then turned, to go back and fling herself on her
bed, staring up into the dark, the letter crackling as it dropped beside
her.

After a while she began to say, "Oh, oh, oh!" quietly and quickly under
her breath. The cry grew too much for her, she twisted on her face to
stifle it, and after a few moments it stopped. Then she turned on her
back again, and said something sharply to herself in a whisper once or
twice, and after that the moaning "Oh, oh, oh!" began again.

So Miss Toland found her, when she came into the room without knocking,
a little later.

"Julia," Miss Toland said sharply, sitting down on the edge of the bed
and possessing herself of one of Julia's limp, cold hands, "Ellie told
me you--she came to the door and heard you! My child, this won't do! You
mustn't make mountains out of molehills. If Jim Studdiford has had the
senseless cruelty to go off to Europe in this fashion, why, he ought to
be horsewhipped, that's all! But I don't believe he'll get any farther
than New York, myself; I don't believe he'll get that far!" She paused,
but Julia was silent. After a moment the older woman spoke again. "What
does he say in the letter?" she asked. "One would really like to know
just how this delightful piece of work is explained."

"Aunt Sanna!" Julia said, in a difficult half whisper. She took Miss
Toland's hand and pressed it against her heart. Her lips were shut
tight, and against the white pillow there was a little negative movement
of her head.

"Well, of course you don't want to talk about it," Miss Toland said
soothingly. "But was there a quarrel?"

"Oh, no--no!" Julia said quickly, briefly, with another convulsive
pressure of Miss Toland's hand, and another jerk of her head. "It was
something--that distressed Jim--something I couldn't change," she added
with difficulty.

"H'm!" said the other, and the evidence for both sides was in, as far as
Miss Toland was concerned, and the case closed. She sat beside Julia in
the dark for a long time, patting her hand wi