An impulse had brought her hither, and her first sense on arriving had been one of disappointment.

Was the change in her way of seeing?
or had the retreat indeed suffered, perchance from the smoke of New Wanley?
The disappointment was like that we experience in revisiting a place kept only in memory since childhood.

Adela had not travelled much in the past year, but her growth in experience had put great tracts between her and the days when she came here to listen and wonder.

It was indeed a memory of her childhood that led her into the wood.
She had brought with her a German book on Socialism and a little German dictionary.

At the advice of Mr.Westlake, given some months ago on the occasion of a visit to the Manor, she had applied herself diligently to this study.