"If I could find out where she is on the road, I might still write and explain all," he thought, with a gleam of hope that quickly faded as he recalled the treacherous nature of his rival. "If I wrote to her, he would intercept my letter. He will be on the watch for that. There is no use trying and hoping. I have lost her forever--bonny, brown-eyed Geraldine!" he sighed, hopelessly. As he returned to his work at the engine-house, he felt as if he had just closed the coffin-lid over a well-beloved face. Such hopes and dreams as had come to him since he met fair Geraldine were hard to relinquish; they had brought such new brightness into his prosaic life; but he felt that all was over now. True, he felt that he had made a strong impression on the girl's heart, but his rival would soon teach her to forget that he had ever existed. But in a few days hope began unconsciously to reassert itself. He decided to call on Cecilia Carroll to inquire if she had any news. He went that evening, and she told him that Geraldine had not written yet. "But I found out from a manager the proposed route of the company, and I have written to her, and told her about you," she added, out of the kindness of her heart. "Clifford Standish will take good care that she never receives your letter," he said, bitterly, as he told her how the actor had intercepted the note he had sent to Geraldine. "I suspected as much, the grand villain!" cried Cissy, indignantly. "So now I shall write to her again and expose him!" She did so, but no answer came to either of her letters. Clifford Standish was too wily to permit Geraldine to receive them. He easily got possession of her mail, and destroyed it without a pang of remorse at his selfish heart. CHAPTER XII. THE LETTER THAT NEVER CAME. "Write me a letter, my dear old friend, I love you more and more, As farther apart we drift, dear heart, And nearer the other shore. The dear old loves and the dear old days Are a balm to life's regret; It's easy to bear the worry and care If the old friends love us yet." Yes, pretty Geraldine, piqued and unhappy over her cruel disappointment in love, had joined the Clemens Company, the manager of which was also one of the actors--Cameron Clemens. He played the clever villain in "Hearts and Homes," his special play, while Clifford Standish took the hero's part. Geraldine threw her whole heart into her work, and succeeded so well that she was promoted in a week, owing to the illness and withdrawal of the second lady from the company. It was the part of an _ingenue_, which just suited Geraldine's youth and _naivette_. She could act it to perfection without laying aside her pretty naturalness of manner.