“Ah yes, sit down and I will dictate at once.”
And, greatly to the surprise and chagrin, of Grace, he, in the calmest manner imaginable, sat back in his chair and dictated the long business letter without a single halt or change. He was at ease, mentally and physically, in great contrast with his bewildered words of the morning.
It was the message he had sent to Sana that had relieved his spirit and restored him to his normal bearing.
It was Grace, who, if she had known the contents of that cablegram, would have trembled and been unfit to take the letter he was now dictating.
CHAPTER XIV
GETTING HIS IDEAL MATE
AFTER dinner that evening, Carl wrote a long letter to Sana, enclosing the gift he had purchased that afternoon. In higher spirits than at any time since that fateful morning on the desert he went to his club to spend the evening in quiet reverie.
In the days that followed, the change in Carl became more and more noticeable to Grace, who at last realized that all her hopes were now gone as the winds of yesterday. This realization was a bitter pill to swallow but she tried to make the best of it.
Weeks passed. Weeks that seemed ages to the anxious man but weeks that were as fleeting moments to the girl who dreaded the day when another letter should reach him from across the seas.
At last the letter came. Receiving it from the postman, Grace, without hesitation now, placed it on Carl’s desk. What mattered it to her! But just the same her feelings were thrown out of balance and with, “What’s the use,” she threw her notebook angrily on her desk just as Carl came in with his usual morning smile.
Grace made a brave attempt to appear unconcerned, saying, “Mr. Lohman, there is a letter on your desk from your African friend.”