[CHAPTER XLI.]
GERALDINE'S SUSPENSE.
"Half the night I waste in sighs,
Half in dreams, I sorrow after
The delight of early skies;
In a wakeful doze I sorrow
For the hand, the lips, the eyes,
For the meeting of the morrow,
The delight of happy laughter,
The delight of low replies."
Tennyson.
The long winter night was over, and with the morning's sunshine Geraldine's heart began to beat with eager expectancy.
A few hours more and sweet Cissy would be here! Cissy, her old friend, who would sympathize with her in all her trials, and perhaps help her to a way out of them.
After breakfast she hastened to her room, leaving Mrs. Fitzgerald intent on the morning papers.
She did not wish to be present should her mother chance to peruse the personal column.
"Conscience makes cowards of us all," she quoted, nervously to herself, fancying her proud parent's indignation when she should read, staring her in the face: