[CHAPTER XXXVIII.]
The day came when Jaquelina was well enough to sit up in her darkened chamber again.
Then they sent word to Violet Earle that she might come to see her one day and Walter the next.
Ronald Valchester had gone back to Richmond on the same day that he had heard that Jaquelina would live.
Violet had fretted about him continually. She had never been quite well since the night of the fire. The terrible shock had wakened her nerves, and her heart. She was anxious to go back to Laurel Hill, but Walter would not hear of such a thing yet.
"Not until Lina is better," he urged. "When she is well enough to travel we will be quietly married, and then we will take her back to Laurel Hill with us."
Violet grew very impatient in the weary weeks of waiting. She fancied she would see Ronald oftener if she were only back in Virginia. He wrote to her sometimes—simple, friendly notes such as he had written her from abroad two years before, but he had never asked her to name the wedding-day yet. She was very glad when they sent her word that Jaquelina was well enough to receive a visit from her.
"They should have given me the first chance of paying her a visit," complained Walter.
He did not know that Jaquelina had purposely planned it so.