d of an untried imagination, to
paint to herself the moments in which her husband would read the letter
which told him what she had told. She had wondered if he would start, if
he would look amazed, if his grey-brown eyes would light with pleasure!
Might he not want to see her? Might he not perhaps write at once? She
never could advance farther in her imagined reading of this reply than
the first lines:

"MY DEAR EMILY,--The unexpected good news your letter contains has given
me the greatest satisfaction. You do not perhaps know how strong my
desire has been--"

She used to sit and flush with happiness when she reached this point.
She so wished that she was capable of depicting to herself what the rest
would be.

She calculated with the utmost care the probable date of the epistle's
arrival. She thought she made sure of allowing plenty of time for all
possible delays. The safety of her letters she had managed, with
Hester's aid, to arrange for. They were forwarded to her bankers and
called for. Only the letters from India were of any importance, and they
were not frequent. She told herself that she must be even more than
usually patient this time. When the letter arrived, if he told her he
felt it proper that he should return, no part of the strange experience
she had passed through would be of moment. When she saw his decorous,
well-bred face and heard his correctly modulated voice, all else would
seem like an unnatural dream.

In her relief at the decent composure of the first floor front in
Mortimer Street the days did not seem at first to pass slowly. But as
the date she had counted on drew near she could not restrain a natural
restlessness. She looked at the clock and walked up and down the room a
good deal. She was also very glad when night came and she could go to
bed. Then she was glad when the morning arrived, because she was a day
nearer to the end.

On a certain evening Dr. Warren said to his wife, "She is not so well
to-day. When I called I found her looking pale and anxious. When I
commented on the fact and asked how she was, she said that she had had a
disappointment. She had been expecting an important letter by a mail
arriving yesterday, and it had not come. She was evidently in low
spirits."

"Perhaps she has kept up her spirits before because she believed the
letter would come," Mrs. Warren speculated.

"She has certainly believed it would come."

"Do _you_ think it will, Harold?"

"She th