After a little while the excitement died away and people forgot Marcella . We never heard from or about her , except a paragraph now and then in the society columns of the city paper the doctor took . We knew she was sent to school for three years ; then the Barrys took her abroad . She was presented at court . When the doctor read this -- he was with me at the time -- he put his hand over his eyes and sat very silent for a long time . I wondered if at last some momentary doubt had crept into his mind -- if he did not fear that Marcella must have forgotten him . The paper told of her triumph and her beauty and hinted at a titled match . Was it probable or even possible that she would be faithful to him after all this ? The doctor must have guessed my thoughts , for at last he looked up with a smile . `` She will come back , '' was all he said . But I saw that the doubt , if doubt it were , had gone . I watched him as he went away , that tall , gentle , kindly-eyed man , and I prayed that his trust might not be misplaced ; for if it should be it would break his heart . Five years seems a long time in looking forward . But they pass quickly . One day I remembered that it was Marcella 's twenty-first birthday . Only one other person thought of it . Even Miss Sara did not . Miss Sara remembered Marcella only as a child that had been loved and lost . Nobody else in Bridgeport thought about her at all . The doctor came in that evening .
He had a rose XXXXX his buttonhole and he walked with a step as light as a boy 's .
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