"Venna."
Anna looked up with a smile. "Wonderful, Venna! But couldn't you write 'Yours lovingly?'"
"It wouldn't be true," replied Venna, coloring.
"You can't love him then?" asked Anna doubtfully.
"No, but I love duty, Anna, and I'll pray God to make me love him in time. I'll do my best."
"You can't do more," returned her friend. "So I am to lose you also. I don't think I'll stay here long alone. I've come to dislike Ashfield so."
"It don't seem the same, does it? We mustn't forget, however, that here we received the Truth."
So the following day Venna quietly left Ashfield. None knew of her going, and as she sat in the train, bound for New York, she was thankful she was leaving the "simple life" which only two months ago she was idealizing.
At the New York station, Will Hadly met her. She felt shocked at the change in him. He was thin and pale, with that drawn look upon his face which betokened mental worry.
Her heart smote her. Pity surged within her, and she looked up at him with real concerned emotion, which he mistook for love.