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 going to bother her," he thought. "It's going to play the devil with her. She can't help it."

Through several moments, he considered whether he could hide it from her altogether; but the letter had come to her home with the White Falls postmark; there might easily be mention of it; besides he knew he should tell her.

He took his hand from his pocket and entered her room.

"Fidelia's husband is dead," he said. "He was wounded near the Dendre and died in a hospital in London. Fidelia seems to have written Jessop, who used to be her guardian; he wrote me. Here's the letter, Alice."

She took it, staring at him, and with it she sat down. "Fidelia's free, you mean. I knew all along it must be. She wants to come back to you."