Annie sat looking dismal.

And Mrs.Morel, in her little rocking-chair that her husband had made for her when the first baby was coming, remained motionless, brooding.

She was grieved, and bitterly sorry for the man who was hurt so much.

But still, in her heart of hearts, where the love should have burned, there was a blank.

Now, when all her woman's pity was roused to its full extent, when she would have slaved herself to death to nurse him and to save him, when she would have taken the pain herself, if she could, somewhere far away inside her, she felt indifferent to him and to his suffering.