"Oh, no. That is from Mr. Warfield. I could tell that hand among a hundred. Isn't it strong and quite as if he knew his own mind?"
She was positively eager with delight as she reached out her hand.
"He is no relative?"
"Oh, the Principal of the school where I went. You know I told you of the interest he took in me."
"Of course you have read the school regulations in your room?"
Helen's bright face was suddenly shadowed.
"Oh, I do believe—I did forget all about it. I wrote to Mrs. Van Dorn and then to my uncle, and there seemed so many things I wanted to say to him, and I just hurried them down. You see he asked me to write to him——"
Helen paused embarrassed. She knew just where the little card was tacked beside the door. Various rules and regulations and hours and a notice that no correspondence would be allowed without permission, to any gentleman except father and brothers or guardians. And she had never thought of it at that moment.
"It must have been because he seemed to me like a guardian," she explained. "That does not excuse my inattention, but please believe me, Mrs. Aldred, that I didn't willfully break the rule. And you may read the letter."
"You have the right of the first reading of it. Sit here, will you?"