Don't you be too quick to decide!" "With your permission," said North as he took the letter.
He tore it open, and Elizabeth's father, watching him, saw the expression of his face change utterly, as the lines of tense repression faded from it.

It was clear that for the moment all else was lost in his feeling of great and compelling happiness.

Twice he read the letter before he could bring himself to replace it in its envelope.

As he did so, he caught the general's eyes fixed on him.

For a moment he hesitated, then he said with the frankness that was habitual to him: "I think you should know just what that letter means to me.