“I came near sinking.”
“Were you bathing?” they both asked, together.
“In sorrow's sea,” he was about to say, but kept the words back, and appeared cheerful for their sakes.
“Then a wave did really come over you, Ralph?” said his sister, looking anxiously into his face.
“Yes, a strong one. I came near going under.”
They did not know that he spoke in correspondences, and accepted the literal explanation, which was true in the abstract.
“You look as though you had concentrated a dozen years into one day,” said Mr. Wyman, as he met Dawn at the door.
“I have had a very intense day.”
“You should have taken more time, child.”
This was her first unshared sorrow, and she longed to be away, alone. It seemed as though an ocean rolled, for the time, between herself and her father, and she hastily left him and sought her room. That night none but angels witnessed her struggles, and the peace which afterwards flowed into her troubled heart.