By reason of a railway accident that belated them twenty-four hours in a Floridian town, they did not reach Havana till the fifth day.
Then, weary and impatient, they took quarters at the best hotel, and the judge, leaving his daughter to rest in her rooms, went out at once in search of news of Maxwell.
Viola was too eager and impatient to rest long, now that she seemed to have attained the goal of her desires.
She could think of nothing but the longed-for reunion with the husband of an hour, from whom she had been so long and cruelly parted, believing him dead and herself widowed.
She glanced at her black gown, rejoicing that she should so soon be able to lay it aside for the bright robes of happiness.
Aunt Edwina had wished her to lay her mourning aside before leaving, but she had demurred.
“I wish my husband to see me first in the garb of woe, then he will know how truly I have mourned him,” she said, wondering if Rolfe would not be proud and glad to learn that she had loved him all the while.
“How have I thought of thee? As flies
The dove to seek its mate,
Trembling lest some rude hand has laid