I shall have fewer fits of that inward shivering that you spoke of,--many less, on account of what I have now heard.
God bless you, Alice; good-bye." "Good-bye, George." As he went he took her hand and pressed it closely between his own.
In those days when they were lovers,--engaged lovers, a close, long-continued pressure of her hand had been his most eloquent speech of love.

He had not been given to many kisses,--not even to many words of love.

But he would take her hand and hold it, even as he looked away from her, and she remembered well the touch of his palm.
It was ever cool,--cool, and with a surface smooth as a woman's,--a small hand that had a firm grip.

There had been days when she had loved to feel that her own was within it, when she trusted in it, and intended that it should be her staff through life.

Now she distrusted it; and as the thoughts of the old days came upon her, and the remembrance of that touch was recalled, she drew her hand away rapidly.