"Yes--of course. I'll go. At once."
And then, as if pledged to speak, though well he knew that she had no thought for him, he added abruptly: "But you mustn't think of yourself as being alone with this. I promise you I'll keep the knowledge, to punish me, that if--if I'd been the sort of man you needed, you'd have settled it all long ago...."
"That's absurd...." said Cally, somehow touched, but with no conception of the depths from which he spoke.... "I never meant to tell at all if it hadn't been for you."
She added, seeing him turn away, looking around the long room: "I think you must have left it in the hall."
And then, winking a little, she began to blow her nose, and moved away toward the door.
She encountered the butler, old Moses, entering from the hall. There was a yellow envelope upon his tray, though she had heard no ring at the bell.
"Excuse me, ma'am. This message just kem for you, an' I signed for it at the do'."
Carlisle thought instantly, Hugo!... And when, having quite forgotten the man standing silent behind her, she broke open the envelope with nervous fingers, the hope of her heart was at once confirmed:
Am coming to you. Arrive four-ten this afternoon. Wait for me.
H.C.