One of the two envelopes which he had directed for her still remained--waiting for the letter which might say to him, "Come home!" Zo determined to write that letter--and to do it at once.
She might have confided this design to her father (the one person besides Carmina who neither scolded her nor laughed at her) if Mr.
Gallilee had distinguished himself by his masterful position in the house.

But she had seen him, as everybody else had seen him, "afraid of mamma." The doubt whether he might not "tell mamma," decided her on keeping her secret.

As the event proved, the one person who informed Ovid of the terrible necessity that existed for his return, was the little sister whom it had been his last kind effort to console when he left England.
When Mr.Gallilee entered the room, Zo had just reached the end of her letter.

Her system of composition excluded capitals and stops; and reduced all the words in the English language, by a simple process of abridgment, to words of one syllable.
_"dear ov you come back car is ill she wants you be quick be quick don't say I writ this miss min is gone I hate books I like you zo."_ With the pen still in her hand, the wary writer looked round at her father.

She had her directed envelope (sadly crumpled) in her pocket; but she was afraid to take it out.