An hour or two later, a return telegram came:--

"Our engagement remains exactly as it was. Nothing is changed. I

hold you to your promise. All tenderest messages. Letter

follows."

That answer calmed Dolly's mind a little. She began to think after

all,--if Walter still wanted her,--she loved him very much; she

could hardly dismiss him.

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When she rose to go to bed, Herminia, very wistful, held out her

white face to be kissed as usual. She held it out tentatively.

Worlds trembled in the balance; but Dolly drew herself back with a

look of offended dignity. "Never!" she answered in a firm voice.

"Never again while I live. You are not fit to receive a pure

girl's kisses."

And two women lay awake all that ensuing night sobbing low on their

pillows in the Marylebone lodging-house.




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