WOULD she live always in fear of Fidelia's return? Might it be that Fidelia was now nearing the city, suddenly to appear as she had on that night at college? Or might it be that Fidelia was further away than England? Might it not be, indeed, that Fidelia could never return?
The long silence, without a word from her or of her, suggested this sometimes. It was a year since that day, following Myra's wedding, when Fidelia had left David. A line to Mr. Jessup could clear up the question at once; and often Alice spurred her courage to suggest to David to write to White Falls but always her courage failed. David was trying to forget Fidelia and suppose a letter to Mr. Jessop should bring back Fidelia! So Alice clung to the happiness she had.
She knew she could not keep it as it was, even if she would; soon David and she must have more—or nothing. He was working very hard to pay off another installment of his debt and he succeeded in doing this on January first in spite of the fact that business fell off markedly in the last quarter of the year.
The dullness was due to a general condition on the row which reflected the feeling of the months in which the President of the United States made his last peace appeal to the Powers and received the reply that the
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