"Yes," he said, "and from what we thought hers would be. But I trust she
will never see cause to regret the step she has taken. Lester is worth
saving even at the sacrifice she has made."

His daughter looked at him with glistening eyes. "Thank you, papa, that is
a good thought, and consoles me greatly for both our darling and
ourselves."

She went on with the reading of the letter; there were but a few more
sentences; then, while the others discussed its contents, Violet stole
quietly from the room, unobserved as she thought. But in that she was
mistaken. Her mother's eyes followed her with a look of love and sympathy.

"Dear child!" she said in a low aside to her father, "she misses Elsie
sorely; I sometimes think almost more than I do, they were so inseparable
and so strongly attached."

Vi's heart was very full, for Elsie's marriage, though far, far from being
so great a sorrow as the death of their father, seemed in some respects
even more the breaking up of a life that had been very sweet.

She sought the studio she and Elsie had shared together (how lonely and
deserted it seemed!) and there gave vent to her feelings in a burst of
tears.

"O Elsie, darling! we were so happy together! such dear friends! with
never a disagreement, hardly a thought unshared! And now I am alone! all
alone!"