Crofton, and as she asks me to tell you all
what is in it, I think it will be simpler if I read it out now."
She waited a moment, gathering up her courage, wondering the while
whether she was doing the best thing by Jack. On the whole she thought
_yes_. There are blows which are far better borne among one's fellows
than in solitude.
She wished to make her reading as colourless as possible, but she could
not keep a certain touch of sarcasm out of her voice as she read aloud
the first two sentences:
"Dearest Mrs. Tosswill,
"You have always been so kind to me that I feel I must write and tell
you why I am leaving the dear Trellis House and delightful Beechfield."
She looked up, but no one spoke; Jack was staring straight before him,
and she went on:
"To my _utter_ surprise a very old friend of my late husband's and mine
has asked me to be his wife. He is going back to India in a fortnight,
and so, much as I shrink from the thought of all the bustle and hurry
it will involve, I feel that as it must be now or never, it must be
_now_, and the fact that I have a good offer for The Trellis House
seemed to me a kind of sign-post.
"Though perhaps I ought not to say so, he is a splendid soldier and did
extremely well in the war.
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