20
_COPE HAS A DISTRESSFUL CHRISTMAS_
Cope awakened at seven. After an early interval of happy lightness, there
came suddenly and heavily the crushing sense of his predicament. How
monstrous it was that one instant of time, one ill-considered action, one
poorly-chosen word could clamp a repellent burden on a man for the rest of
his life!
Well, he must expect telephone messages and letters. They came. That
afternoon Mrs. Peck had "a lady's voice" to report: "It sounded like a
_young_ lady's voice," she added. And she looked at Cope with some
curiosity: a "young lady" asking for him over the wire was the rarest thing
in the world.
Next day came the first note. The handwriting was utterly new to him; but
his intuition, applied instantly to the envelope, told him of the source.
The nail, driven, was now to be clinched. She had the right to ask him to
come; and she did ask him to come--"soon."
Cope's troubled eyes sought the calendar above his table. How many days to
Christmas? How much time might he spend in Freeford? How long before
Christmas might he arrange to leave Churchton? The holidays at home loomed
as a harbor of refuge.
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