It may be that Maud's condition,
dimly prophetic of the coming change, required more than this, and
she conceived a certain dissatisfaction. Then came the great event,
and for some weeks she scarcely thought of her correspondent. One
day, however, she chanced upon the little packet of his letters, and
read them through again. It was with new eyes. Thoughts spoke to her
which had not been there on the first reading. Waymark had touched
at times on art and kindred subjects, and only now could she
understand his meaning. She felt that, in breaking off her
connection with him, she had lost the one person who could give her
entire sympathy; to whom she might have spoken with certainty of
being understood, of all the novel ideas which possessed her; who,
indeed, would have been invaluable as a guide in the unknown land
she was treading. It was now almost the end of the year; more than
three months had gone by since she received that last letter from
him. Could she write now, and let him know that she was in London?
She could not but give expression to her altered self; and would he
be able to understand her? Yet,--she needed him; and there was
something of her mother in the fretting to which she was now and
then driven by the balked desire.
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