allusion to the possibility of an

In the interval between writing to him and receiving his replyshe had broken with Strefford; she had therefore no object inseeking her freedom. If Nick wanted his, he knew he had only toask for it; and his silence, as the weeks passed, woke a fainthope in her. The hope flamed high when she read one day in thenewspapers a vague but evidently "inspired" allusion to the possibility of an alliance between his Serene Highness thereigning Prince of Teutoburg-Waldhain and Miss Coral Hicks of Apex City; it sank to ashes when, a few days later, her eye liton a paragraph wherein Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Hicks "requested tostate" that there was no truth in the report. 　　On the foundation of these two statements Susy raised one watch-tower of hope after another, feverish edifices demolished orrebuilt by every chance hint from the outer world wherein Nick'sname figured with the Hickses'. And still, as the days passedand she heard nothing, either from him or from her lawyer, herflag continued to fly from the quaking structures. 　　Apart from the custody of the children there was indeed littleto distract her mind from these persistent broodings. Shewinced sometimes at the thought of the ease with which herfashionable friends had let her drop out of sight. In theperpetual purposeless rush of their days, the feverish making ofwinter plans, hurrying off to the Riviera or St. Moritz, Egyptor New York, there was no time to hunt up the vanished or towait for the laggard. Had they learned that she had broken her"engagement" (how she hated the word!) to Strefford, and had thefact gone about that she was once more only a poor hanger-on, tobe taken up when it was convenient, and ignored in theintervals? She did not know; though she fancied Strefford'snewly-developed pride would prevent his revealing to any onewhat had passed between them. For several days after her abruptflight he had made no sign; and though she longed to write andask his forgiveness she could not find the words. Finally itwas he who wrote: a short note, from Altringham, typical of allthat was best in the old Strefford. He had gone down toAltringham, he told her, to think quietly over their last talk,and try to understand what she had been driving at. He had toown that he couldn't; but that, he supposed, was the very headand front of his offending. Whatever he had done to displeaseher, he was sorry for; but he asked, in view of his invincibleignorance, to be allowed not to regard his offence as a causefor a final break. The possibility of that, he found, wouldmake him even more unhappy than he had foreseen; as she knew,his own happiness had always been his first object in life, andhe therefore begged her to suspend her decision a little longer.