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The next few days were intolerable But of course, after the first

passion of disappointan to hope; he would write fully in

a few days She kept calculating how soon she ht expect this fuller

letter She did not write to hiiven no address it

was evident that he did not wish to hear froh he wrote, he did not

write "fully" In fact, he made no allusion whatever to Frederick, or

the future Helena was instant with explanation: he was absorbed with

business; Alice ith him; he had no time That these were absurd

excuses she knew But they were the best she could find, and she had

to have excuses It was at this tie When

still another week passed, the tension lessened; indeed, she would

have broken down under the strain if she had not fallen into a sort of

apathy She told herself that after all there was no reason why she

should leave Old Chester ieous and he was a horrible old man; but he had said

that he would not speak of her affairs So as far as he was concerned

she could perfectly ait until that Western trip was over; she

would just try not to think of him So she played with David, and

talked to him, and listened to his confidences about the journey to

Philadelphia which Dr Lavendar planned It was more than two months

off, but that did not trouble David He and Dr Lavendar had long

talks on the subject, of which, occasionally, the little boy dropped

condescending hints

"Maybe I'll take you to Philadelphia," Helena said once, jealously;

"will you like that?"

"Yes'm," said David, without enthusiasm