Page:The Star in the Window.pdf/189

Rh outside envelope was addressed to Mr. James Perkins, the second to Miss Rebecca Jerome, with "Private" in one corner, and the third to Mrs. Nathaniel Cawthorne. What with the bank-envelope to open in addition, when Reba finally drew forth the thin double sheet of note-paper on the inside with Nathan's writing on it, it reminded her of the tiny kernel of solid wood at the center of a certain Chinese wooden egg, which she was allowed to play with Sunday afternoons when she was a child—a marvelous toy containing a diminishing series of brightly-striped wooden shells, fitting nicely, one inside the other.

"My dear Rebecca," Nathan began. "This is the second letter I ever wrote to a young lady, and the first one was to you, too, that night after that time at the movies." Reba glanced inside the folded notepaper. It was quite a long letter. What would it all be about?

"I hope," it went on, "you will excuse all mistakes and blots and bad writing."

There wasn't a single blot, and the writing was neat and uniform. Reba could see that, in order to keep his lines straight, he had first ruled the note-paper in pencil and afterward erased the marks.

"I am well," it informed her, "and I hope you are well too. I hope this finds your mother better. I hope my postcards reached you. New York is certainly a fine city."

Beneath this sentence there appeared two unerased pencil lines and beneath them, in purple ink (he had started out in black), began a new paragraph, well indented.

"I began this," he explained, "a week ago, but