After all, it was Eva who broke the ice first.
“Have you heard from Ernest lately?” she said, nervously.
“Yes; I got a note by last mall.”
“Oh,” said Eva, clasping her hands involuntarily, “what did he say?”
“Nothing much. But I got a letter by the mail before that, in which he said a good deal. Among other things, he said he had written to you. Did you get the letter?”
Eva coloured to her eyes. “Yes,” she whispered.
Dorothy rose, and seated herself again on a footstool by Eva’s feet, and wondered at the trouble in her eyes. How could she be troubled when she had heard from Ernest—“like that?”
“What did you answer him, dear?”
Eva covered her face with her hands.
“Do not talk about it,” she said; “it is too dreadful to me!”