" "Here," he said; and he wrote the initial letters, _w, y, t, m, i, c, n, b, d, t, m, n, o, t_.

These letters meant, "When you told me it could never be, did that mean never, or then?" There seemed no likelihood that she could make out this complicated sentence; but he looked at her as though his life depended on her understanding the words.

She glanced at him seriously, then leaned her puckered brow on her hands and began to read.