It ran:-- "Dear Katherine, Can you come over and spend an hour with me this evening when the store is closed?
I feel that I want to see you more than anyone else in the world.
Please come.
MARY." "Miss Selincourt said that a message would do for answer," said the man who had brought the note.
Katherine hesitated about what that answer should be.

In her heart of hearts she knew very well that she did not want to go away that evening.

Jervis had not been up the river for three days, so he would be almost sure to come that evening, and she wanted to be at home when he came, to see for herself that he was none the worse for the long immersion in the water, and the painful barefooted walk to Seal Cove.
But the hesitancy did not last long, and, setting her face in sterner lines than usual, Katherine told the man that she would certainly pay Miss Selincourt a visit that evening when her work was done.
If the work dragged a little after that, and the day lost something of the zest which had marked it before, no one guessed it but herself.

She was bright and cheerful, teasing Miles, when he came home, about some fancied indignity which he had received at the hands of the Indians, and rallying Mrs.Burton on the awful confusion wrought by her reforms in the store.
Not even to herself would Katherine admit how much she dreaded the simple friendly visit she had promised to pay that evening.

She was afraid that she would see some look or sign of what she feared most to know.