Page:A Wild-Goose Chase - Balmer - 1915.djvu/48

34 him with the realisation of his position as their friendship became more and more important to Margaret and to him. For the first few days, he sought her at every opportunity and she let him see that she offered the opportunities as often as she could; then he knew that mere friendship could not continue between them and suddenly one evening, instead of his appearance at the house or his voice over the telephone, there came a short note—which in its very brevity betrayed much—saying good-bye to her. He had been called away for a few days on an important matter and he would not return to Mr. Thomas' or to the city until after she had left for Europe. He could not well express his appreciation of her companionship.

He sent with the note a flower pot containing a tulip from Sumatra—the extraordinarily beautiful and sweet-smelling flower of which he had once told her; he had found a bulb among his things.

That day Margaret decided finally that she was not going away. She did not try to deceive herself or her mother as to why she