Her health
seemed to have improved; after a long spell of work she had not
the air of despondent weariness which had sometimes irritated
him, sometimes made him uneasy. She was more womanly in her
bearing and speech, and exercised an independence, appropriate
indeed to her years, but such as had not formerly declared itself
The question with her father was whether these things resulted
simply from her consciousness of possessing what to her seemed
wealth, or something else had happened of the nature that he
dreaded. An alarming symptom was the increased attention she paid
to her personal appearance; its indications were not at all
prominent, but Yule, on the watch for such things, did not
overlook them. True, this also might mean nothing but a sense of
relief from narrow means; a girl would naturally adorn herself a
little under the circumstances.
His doubts came to an end two days after that proposal of a title
for the new review. As he sat in his study the servant brought
him a letter delivered by the last evening post. The handwriting
was unknown to him; the contents were these:
'DEAR MR YULE,--It is my desire to write to you with perfect
frankness and as simply as I can on a subject which has the
deepest interest for me, and which I trust you will consider in
that spirit of kindness with which you received me when we first
met at Finden.
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