'Your brother put that in your head.'
'He implied that my case half known would be a discredit to him, and I am prepared for others thinking so. If so, I can get a situation at Portland, and I know I can be useful there; but when such a hope as this was opened to me again, I could not help making an attempt. Do you think I may show that letter to Dr. May?'
'O, Leonard, this is one of the best days of one's life!'
'But what,' he asked, as she looked over the letter, 'what shall I alter?'
'I do not know, only you are so business-like; you do not seem to care enough.'
'If I let myself out, it would look like unbecoming pressing of myself, considering what I am; but if you think I ought, I will say more. I have become so much used to writing letters under constraint, that I know I am very dry.'
'Let papa see it first,' said Ethel. 'After all, earnestness is best out of sight.'
'Mr. Wilmot and he shall decide whether I may send it,' he said; 'and in the meantime I would go to St. Augustine's, if they will have me.'
'I see you have thought it all over.'
'Yes. I only waited to have spoken with my sister, and she—dear, dear Ave—had separately thought of such a destination for me. It was more than acquiescence, more than I dared to hope!'