Beneath them , carefully wrapped up in a square of foreign-looking , strangely scented silk , was the dragon teapot . She held it in her hands and gazed at it with tears gathering thickly in her eyes . `` Your father sent that , '' said Isabella Spencer with an odd sound in her voice . `` I remember it well . It was among the things I packed up and sent after him . His father had brought it home from China fifty years ago , and he prized it beyond anything . They used to say it was worth a lot of money . '' `` Mother , please leave me alone for a little while , '' said Rachel , imploringly . She had caught sight of a little note at the bottom of the basket , and she felt that she could not read it under her mother 's eyes . Mrs. Spencer went out with unaccustomed acquiescence , and Rachel went quickly to the window , where she read her letter by the fading gleams of twilight . It was very brief , and the writing was that of a man who holds a pen but seldom . `` My dear little girl , '' it ran , `` I 'm sorry I ca n't go to your wedding . It was like you to ask me -- for I know it was your doing . I wish I could see you married , but I ca n't go to the house I was turned out of . I hope you will be very happy . I am sending you the shells and teapot you liked so much . Do you remember that day we had such a good time ? I would liked to have seen you again before you were married , but it ca n't be . `` Your loving father , `` DAVID SPENCER . '' Rachel resolutely blinked away the tears that filled her eyes .
A fierce desire XXXXX her father sprang up in her heart -- an insistent hunger that would not be denied .
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