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STRAIT IS THE GATE
132

It has developed greatly this year; it pleases him to say that it is because of his marriage, which has brought him an important clientèle at Le Havre. Robert accompanied him the last time he went on a business journey. Edouard is very kind to him, declares he understands his character and doesn't despair of seeing him take seriously to this kind of work.

“Father is much better; the sight of his daughter's happiness has made him young again; he is interesting himself again in the farm and the garden, and has just asked me to go on with our reading aloud, which we had begun with Miss Ashburton and which was interrupted by the Teissières' visit. I am reading them Baron Hübner's travels, and enjoy them very much myself. I shall have more time now for my own reading too; but I want some advice from you; this morning I took up several books, one after the other, without feeling a taste for any of them!”

Alissa's letters, henceforward, became more troubled, more pressing.

“The fear of troubling you prevents me from telling you how much I want you,” she wrote towards the end of the summer. “Every day that has to be got through before I see you again weighs

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