"What was the matter with you tonight?" Milly whispered to Chloe when choir practice was over, and the two
of them were drinking tea in Chloe's parlor. The newspaper...the newspaper... lay on the table in front of them.

Chloe cringed. She knew all too well that she had let the other choir members down. She had been way off-key,
and she had even forgotten the words to a hymn she knew by heart, a hymn she'd been singing since she was a
little girl.

She saw herself now, opening her mouth and singing... nothing. She heard herself blurting out, "I've forgotten the words!"
The other choir-members had turned to stare at her, and nothing increases embarrassment more than to be stared at during
an awkward moment.

Chloe sighed and answered, "I had something on my mind."

"It must have been something very serious," Milly said, "because you are usually our best singer."

"It was," Chloe said. "Today I heard from someone... someone from my past."

"Who?" Milly asked.

Chloe picked up the paper and pointed.

Milly read:

Chloe:

I've been thinking about you lately, and wondering how you are.
Do you remember that time we stayed with the Andrews family?
If you see this message, please reply to this column.

Ben Cartwright

"Who," Milly asked, "is Ben Cartwright?"

Chloe took a sip of her tea before answering, "I'll tell you everything, but you must promise to keep it to yourself."

"Of course I will."

"Ben Cartwright was my husband."

"Your husband? But I thought you were a widow."

"I am. Ben Cartwright was my first husband."

"Were you..." Milly paused, not sure how to ask the next question.

"Divorced? I promised to tell you everything, and I will."

"What are you going to do?" Milly asked when Chloe finished her story.

"I could pretend that I never saw this," Chloe answered. "After all, Ben would never know the difference. But then," she added,
"I would never know why he is trying to contact me."

"And so?"

"And so," Chloe said, "I'm going to send a reply."