SUSPENSE
The next morning Honor received a telegram from Joyce to meet her at the Grand Hotel in Calcutta without delay, and she was only too glad for a respite of even a few days from the pain of schooling herself to avoid the man she loved. Her parents having no objection, she caught the express at midday, and was in Calcutta the same night, her mind lightened of one of its burdens. At least the little wife had acted upon advice and was going to her husband without waste of time, after which all would surely be well for them both.
Joyce was prepared for her coming, and they talked to a late hour, she, betraying her trouble by her anxious questioning, which Honor skilfully parried.
"You must not put too much faith in gossip," said Honor after learning of the conversation which had been overheard on the ship. "Have you wired?"
Joyce confessed her intention to take her husband by surprise. "Only, now that it has come to the point, I am as nervous as I can be."
"You had better wire. It will bring your husband down half-way to meet you and give him some happy hours of anticipation."
"You are not sincere when you say that," said Joyce unexpectedly, "or why did you tell me to stop at nothing to come out?"
Joyce was no longer the same, ingenuous little girl Honor had parted from at Muktiarbad eight months ago. Her manner had acquired assurance, her carriage a becoming dignity, and there was about her an air of thoughtfulness and reserve, new to her.
"I said it was not good for man to live alone, nor is it."
"And you knew there was someone trying to supplant me in his affections?"