life when there were two roads in
front of her and you helped her to choose the right one. I daresay
that you thought that you did very little--it cannot have seemed very
much, that short meeting that we had; but it made just the difference
to me and will, I know, be to me a white stone from which I shall date
my new life. I am not a strong woman--I never shall be a strong
woman--and it was partly because I thought that love for Robin was
going to give me that strength that it hurt so terribly when I found
that the love wasn't there. The going of my love hurt every bit as
much as the going of his--it had been something to be proud of.

"I relied on sentiment and now I am going to rely on work; those are
the only two alternatives offered to women, and the latter is so often
denied to them.

"I hope that it may, one day, give you pleasure to think that you once
helped a girl to do the strong thing instead of the weak one. Of
course, my love for Robin has died, and I see him clearly now without
exaggeration. What happened was largely my fault--I spoilt him, I
think, and helped his self-pride. I know that he has been passing
through a bad time lately, and I am sure that he will come to you to
help him out of it. He is a lucky fellow to have some one to help him
like that--and then he will suddenly see that he has done a rather
cruel thing. Poor Robin! he will make a fine man one day.

"I have got a little secretaryship in London--nothing very big, but it
will give me the work that I want; and, because you once said that you
believed in me, I will try to justify your belief. There! that is
sentiment, isn't it!--and I have flung sentiment away. Well, it is the
last time!

"Good-bye--I shall never forget. Thank you.--

Yours sincerely,
DAHLIA FEVEREL."

So perhaps, after all, Robin's mistakes had been for the good of all of
them. Mistake was, indeed, a slight word for what he had done, and,
thinking of it even now, Harry's anger rose.

And she had been a nice girl, too, and a plucky one.

He had answered her:--

"MY DEAR MISS FEVEREL--I was extremely pleased to get your letter. It
is very good of you to speak as you have done about myself, but I
assure you that what I did was of the smallest importance. It was
because you had pluck yourself that you pulled through. You are quite
right to fling away sentiment. I came back to England three weeks ago
longing to call every man my brother. I thou