On the desk beside her lay an open letter with a Paris postmark. It had come by the late mail.
Once in a while her eyes would rest on the shimmer of silver framing the Ledge. Then some remembrance of the day would rush over her: the anxious waiting for the verdict; Sanford’s upraised hand as he entered the cabin; the gaunt outline of the wrecked trestle and the ghostly lantern that burned above the head of the dying man. From out the turmoil of these contending memories one face shone clear and strong, with fixed and questioning eyes.
In that one look she had read his inmost depth. She had caught the sudden uplifting of the lids, the wondering glance at her joyous words of praise, and the shadow that followed.
“It is best so,” she whispered to herself at last. “It is the only way. I did not mean to hurt him,—only to help. Help him—and me.”
With a tired, listless air, she rose from her seat, folded the letter slowly, and locked it in her desk.
THE END.
The Riverside Press
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.
ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED BY
H. O. HOUGHTON AND CO.
FICTION AND TRAVEL
By F. Hopkinson Smith.
CALEB WEST, MASTER DIVER. Illustrated. 12mo, $1.50.