thought that she might lose him made him seem
only more dear; to think that he might leave her
made her sick at heart. In one week she was
bound to give him an answer; he was more likely
to ask for it at their next meeting.


IX

DOUBTS AND FEARS


Rena's heart was too heavy with these misgivings
for her to keep them to herself. On the
morning after the conversation with Tryon in
which she had promised him an answer within a
week, she went into her brother's study, where he
usually spent an hour after breakfast before going
to his office. He looked up amiably from the
book before him and read trouble in her face.

"Well, Rena, dear," he asked with a smile,
"what's the matter? Is there anything you
want--money, or what? I should like to have
Aladdin's lamp--though I'd hardly need it--
that you might have no wish unsatisfied."

He had found her very backward in asking for
things that she needed. Generous with his means,
he thought nothing too good for her. Her success