She said she never
had been so attracted by a new idea in her whole life."
"Leslie, I came to you this morning about Nellie. I promised you to think
matters over, and I've done nothing else since I last saw you, hateful as
has been the occupation. You're still sure of what you said about her
then?"
"Positively!" cried Leslie.
"Do you hear from her?" he asked.
"No," she answered.
"You spoke of a letter----" he suggested.
"A note she wrote me before leaving," explained Leslie. "You see I'd been
with her all day and we had raced home so joyously; and when things came
out as they did, she knew I wouldn't understand."
"Might I see it?" he asked.
"Surely," said Leslie. "I spoke of that the other day. I'll bring it."
When Leslie returned James Minturn read the missive several times; then he
handed it back, saying: "What is there in that Leslie, to prove your
points?"
"Three things," said Leslie with conviction: "The statement that for an
hour after she reached her decision she experienced real joy and expected
to render the same to you; the acknowledgment that she understood that you
didn't know what you were doing to her, in your reception of her; and the
final admission that life now held so little for her that she would gladly
end it, if she dared, without making what reparation she could.
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