Page:Her Roman Lover (Frothingham, 1911).djvu/244

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Chapter XXI

By the Fountain of Moses

Anne never knew how she finally induced herself to read Jack’s letter, which had been the innocent cause of such anguish to her.


Dear Anne [it ran], I am giving a friend, an especially struggling young artist, a letter to your aunt. Do induce her to be a little kind to him (I know you are otherwise occupied), because he is a sort of lost mother’s darling who believes that “Art” with a big A has called him. I don’t, but that’s another matter, and being a bad artist does not prevent one from being a homesick boy.

That you are still happy will be always the hope of
Yours sincerely,
Jack Swift.


In a postscript he made a short but definite allusion to that family circumstance which Anne could not honorably speak of to Gino, so she was debarred from sending him the letter.

The girl made no attempt to hide her misery,

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