CHAPTER X.
"The guardian oak Mourn'd o'er the roof it shelter'd: the thick air Labour'd with doleful sounds." ELLIOTT of _Sheffield_.
MANY days had passed, and Alice was still alone; but she had heard twice from Maltravers.

The letters were short and hurried.

One time his father was better, and there were hopes; another time, and it was not expected that he could survive the week.

They were the first letters Alice had ever received from him.

Those _first_ letters are an event in a girl's life--in Alice's life they were a very melancholy one.