That
is--you wouldn't mind if, in return, you--But I dare not say it--I can
only hope--hope!
Unless you send me word to the contrary by ten o'clock, I will then ask
Mr. and Mrs. Stephen, and arrange to come for you at four this afternoon.
You are committed to nothing by agreeing to this arrangement. But I--am
committed to everything for as long as I live. RICHARD.
* * * * *
It was well that it was not yet six o'clock in the morning and that
Roberta had two long hours to herself before she need come forth from
her room. She needed them, every minute of them, to get herself in hand.
It was a good letter, no doubt of that. It was neither clever nor
eloquent, but it was better: it was manly and sincere. It showed
self-respect; it showed also humility, a proud humility which rejoiced
that it could feel its own unworthiness and know thereby that it would
strive to be more fit. And it showed--oh, unquestionably it showed!--the
depth of his feeling. Quite clearly he had restrained a pen that longed
to pour forth his heart, yet there were phrases in which his tenderness
had been more than he could hold back, and it was those phrases which
made the recipient hold her breath a little as she read them, wondering
how, if the written words were almost more than she could bear, she
could face the spoken ones.
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