red himself, "she will
make some sign, she will give me a word, a look that will write 'total'
under the hours we have spent together, that will help to carry me
through the long winter."

But he held her hand so long and looked at her so hungrily that
he really forced her to say: "Don't miss your train," which kind
consideration for his comfort did not delight him as it should. Nor,
indeed, later did she herself recall the remark with satisfaction.

With Latimer out of the way the other two hundred and forty-nine suitor
attacked with renewed hope. Among other advantages they had over Latimer
was that they were on the ground. They saw Helen daily, at dinners,
dances, at the country clubs, in her own drawing-room. Like any sailor
from the Charlestown Navy Yard and his sweetheart, they could walk
beside her in the park and throw peanuts to the pigeons, and scratch
dates and initials on the green benches; they could walk with her up one
side of Commonwealth Avenue and down the south bank of the Charles, when
the sun was gilding the dome of the State House, when the bridges were
beginning to deck themselves with necklaces of lights. They had known
her since they wore knickerbockers; and they shared many interests and
friends in common; they talked the same language. Latimer could talk to
her only in letters, for with her he shared no friends or interests,
and he was forced to choose between telling her of his lawsuits and
his efforts in politics or of his love. To write to her of his affairs
seemed wasteful and impertinent, and of his love for her, after she had
received what he told of it in silence, he was too proud to speak. So he
wrote but seldom, and then only to say: "You know what I send you." Had
he known it, his best letters were those he did not send. When in the
morning mail Helen found his familiar handwriting, that seemed to stand
out like the face of a friend in a crowd, she would pounce upon
the letter, read it, and, assured of his love, would go on her way
rejoicing. But when in the morning there was no letter, she wondered
why, and all day she wondered why. And the next morning when again
she was disappointed, her thoughts of Latimer and her doubts and
speculations concerning him shut out every other interest. He became a
perplexing, insistent problem. He was never out of her mind. And then he
would spoil it all by writing her that he loved her and that of all the
women in the world she was the only one. A