“May 15, 18—.

“Dear, dear Guy:—­I am all alone here in Rouen; not a person near me who speaks English or knows a thing of Daisy Thornton as she was, or as she is now, for I am Daisy Thornton here.  I have taken the old name again, and am an English governess in a wealthy French family; and this is how it came about:  I have left Berlin and the party there and am earning my own living for three reasons, two of which concern cousin Tom and one of which has to do with you and that miserable settlement which has troubled me so much.  I thought when I brought it back and tore it up that was the last of it, and did not know that by no act of mine could I give it to you until I was of age.  Father missed it, of course, and I told him just the truth, and that I could never touch a penny of your money and I not your wife.  He did not say a word, and I supposed it was all right, and never dreamed that I was actually clothed and fed on the interest of that ten thousand dollars.  Father would not tell me and you did not write.  Why didn’t you, Guy?  I expected a letter so long, and went to the office so many times and cried a little to myself, and said Guy has forgotten me.

“Then we went to South Africa—­father, mother, and I—­went to live with Tom.  He wanted me before you did, you know, but I could not marry Tom.  He is very rich now, and we lived with him; and then we all came to Europe and have traveled everywhere, and I have had teachers in everything, and people say I am a fine scholar and praise me much; and, Guy, I have tried to improve just to please you; believe me, Guy, just to please you.  Tom was as a brother—­a dear, good big bear of a brother whom I loved as such, but nothing more.  Even were you dead, I could not marry Tom after knowing you; and I told him so when in Berlin he asked me for the sixth time to be his wife.  I had to tell him something hard to make him understand, and when I saw how what I said hurt him cruelly and made him cry—­because he was such a great, big, awkward, dear old fellow, I put my arms around his neck and cried with him, and tried to explain, and that made him ten times worse.  Oh, if folks only would not love me so it would save me so much sorrow.

“You see, I tell you this because I want you to know exactly what I have been doing these five years, and that I have never thought of marrying Tom or anybody.  I did not think I could.  I felt that if I belonged to anybody it was you, and I cannot have Tom; and father was very angry and taunted me with living on Tom’s money, which I did not know before, and he accidentally let out about the marriage settlement, and that hurt me worse than the other.

“Oh, Guy, how can I give it up?  Surely there must be a way, now I am of age.  I was so humiliated about it, and after all that passed between father and Tom and me I could not stay in Berlin and never be sure whose money was paying for my bread, and when I heard that Madame Lafarcade, a French lady, who had spent the winter in Berlin, was wanting an English governess for her children, I went to her, and, as the result, am here at this beautiful country-seat, just out of the city, earning my own living and feeling so proud to do it; only, Guy, there is an ache in my heart, a heavy, throbbing pain which will not leave me day or night, and this is how it came there.