"Oh, Nick, isn't she a darling?
I--I--it makes me feel such a beast!" Nick's hand pinched her cheek in answer.

His lips twitched a little, but he did not speak or raise his eyes.
She leaned her cheek against his shoulder.

"I won't read any more, Nick.
It's too private.

May I open Dad's ?" He took his wife's letter between his fingers and dexterously folded it.
"All right, Olga _mia!_ Let us hear the verdict of the great Dr.Jim!" He glanced up at Max with the words and instantly looked away.
Olga had apparently forgotten his very existence.

She opened her father's letter still in quivering haste, and again there was a silence of several seconds while they read.
It was broken in a fashion which not one of the three anticipated.