"If I could find out where she is on the road, I might still write and explain all," he thought, with a gleam of hope that quickly faded as he recalled the treacherous nature of his rival.
"If I wrote to her, he would intercept my letter. He will be on the watch for that. There is no use trying and hoping. I have lost her forever—bonny, brown-eyed Geraldine!" he sighed, hopelessly.
As he returned to his work at the engine-house, he felt as if he had just closed the coffin-lid over a well-beloved face.
Such hopes and dreams as had come to him since he met fair Geraldine were hard to relinquish; they had brought such new brightness into his prosaic life; but he felt that all was over now.
True, he felt that he had made a strong impression on the girl's heart, but his rival would soon teach her to forget that he had ever existed.
But in a few days hope began unconsciously to reassert itself. He decided to call on Cecilia Carroll to inquire if she had any news.
He went that evening, and she told him that Geraldine had not written yet.
"But I found out from a manager the proposed route of the company, and I have written to her, and told her about you," she added, out of the kindness of her heart.
"Clifford Standish will take good care that she never receives your letter," he said, bitterly, as he told her how the actor had intercepted the note he had sent to Geraldine.
"I suspected as much, the grand villain!" cried Cissy, indignantly. "So now I shall write to her again and expose him!"