Nor was the room specially spruce, at the moment at least, people's
tastes differing in these matters, even in the same family. Angela's
young brother, for example, kept his small room shining like a new pin,
and let himself personally go till he was a disgrace to the family.
Angela, on the other hand, whose exquisite personal neatness had
attracted the notice of Charles Garrott himself, was more or less
indifferent about a room which nobody but the family ever saw. The door
of the wardrobe stood open now, with one of the yellow bureau-drawers; a
pair of shoes rested on the straight chair, with a pair of stockings
curled on the rag-carpet below. On the sway-backed bed were strewn
various things--a towel, two old summer dresses that she had been trying
on a little earlier in the afternoon, a pair of soiled white gloves, a
paper of pins and two new dress-shields.
In the drawer of the wardrobe, Angela presently found several sheets of
note-paper, and, after a longer search, a single envelope. The envelope
was not what it had been once. It had knocked about the world a bit in
its time; its bright youth was gone. Upon its face was a dusky smudge,
souvenir of some forgotten encounter, and, near the smudge, some hand
had once written the word "Mrs.," and then lost heart and abandoned the
whole enterprise. Still, it was possibly the only envelope in the house.
Angela found, after due trial, that the smudge yielded, quite
satisfactorily, to the eraser on the end of a pencil. As for the
reminiscent "Mrs.," that was easily enough worked over into a "Mr.,"
though not, to be sure, without a slight blot.
Angela sat on the edge of the bed. She pulled the rickety work-table
into position before her. Having addressed the remainder of the
envelope, after the "Mr.," she sat biting the penholder for a space. But
when the business end of the pen was put into action, it went ahead
quite steadily:--
DEAR MR. GARROTT [wrote Angela from the bedside]:--
When you left here the other night, I did not think it would be
so long before I would see you again!
I have been very sorry about our misunderstanding--and I have
felt that I should not have said what I did. I have thought it
all over, and I understand better now.
When you are not so busy, you must come in to see me--and I
will explain just what I mean. I couldn't that night.
Yours most cordially,
ANGELA FLOWER.
She had hardly written the final letter of her pretty name when the
front door was heard to open again, this time with a bang. Having
hastily tucked the note into the experienced envelope, Angela got
downstairs before her little brother, Wallie, had finished taking off
his dripping overcoat.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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