Page:The council of seven.djvu/343

 In the last resort, she was sure that the movements of the Colossus, whose shadow might soon be lying athwart the whole world, must be determined by Fate itself. Was God's hand strong enough to direct this man to her house at the time she had proposed? It was the sense and the knowledge of ultimate things which kept Helen sane in the course of the intolerable hours of that Wednesday night.

The next morning, after a vigil which seemed interminable, she was down before eight o'clock. That was the hour, as a rule, when the first post came. Eagerly she listened for the familiar knock. And when, just as the hour struck, the knock was plainly heard, she could hardly muster courage to go as far as the letter box in the hall. Go, however, she did.

There was a mail of eight letters. And among them one, a small neat envelope, bore the unmistakable hand-*writing which for two days past had been stamped upon the retina of Helen's imagination.

She tore the letter open. There was a brief line:

":

"Yes, certainly, with the greatest pleasure I will come and see your new home at four o'clock Friday afternoon.

"Yours always,

"S. H."