Phoebe found her pale and immovable, rooted to the spot on which they had parted. “Dear, dear me, miss, what’s gone wrong?”
And her mistress answered wildly, in words that had never before passed her placid lips, “O Phoebe, I wish I was dead!”
Such was the impression left on the mind of Regina by the interview in the shrubbery.
The impression left on the mind of Amelius was stated in equally strong language, later in the day. His American friend asked innocently for news, and was answered in these terms:
“Find something to occupy my mind, Rufus, or I shall throw the whole thing over and go to the devil.”
The wise man from New England was too wise to trouble Amelius with questions, under these circumstances. “Is that so?” was all he said. Then he put his hand in his pocket, and, producing a letter, laid it quietly on the table.
“For me?” Amelius asked.
“You wanted something to occupy your mind,” the wily Rufus answered. “There ‘tis.”
Amelius read the letter. It was dated, “Hampden Institution.” The secretary invited Amelius, in highly complimentary terms, to lecture, in the hall of the Institution, on Christian Socialism as taught and practised in the Community at Tadmor. He was offered two-thirds of the profits derived from the sale of places, and was left free to appoint his own evening (at a week’s notice) and to issue his own advertisements. Minor details were reserved to be discussed with the secretary, when the lecturer had consented to the arrangement proposed to him.
Having finished the letter, Amelius looked at his friend. “This is your doing,” he said.