"There is something you have thought of?" he said.
Leslie's head drooped thoughtfully.
"Yes, there is something," she said. Lucy got up as if to leave the room; but Leslie put out a hand and stayed her. "No, dear, it is no secret; besides, if it were, you must not keep secrets from each other. Wait a moment."
Lucy and Ralph exchanged glances.
"Do you know anything?" he asked.
Lucy shook her head.
"No," she replied in an awed whisper, "she has told me nothing of her past—nothing. We love each other like sisters, and I think there is no one in the world half so good or sweet as Leslie, but I should not dare—yes, that is the word—to ask for her confidence."
Leslie came back into the room. She had a small packet in her hand, and she laid it on the table before Ralph Duncombe.
"I am going to ask you to do something for me," she said with a smile that flickered sadly, as if it were very near tears. "I wish you to give this to the person to whom it is addressed."