Well, the darkness was good; how she should dread brightness for the future.

If only she need not go to the recital!--might she not be spared that?
No! she must have courage, she must go, they must not know she had seen them, not yet, not till she had thought what must be done, not till she had made her plans.

It would have to be talked of if she let them know.
That would be terrible.

Isabel would be gone to-morrow, and then she might speak to Theophil, might set him free.

But now she must go,--she must not be later than they; they would be passing down to the hall presently, she must be there before them,--she must be quick,--she must go now....
As Isabel and Theophil entered the hall together, and smiled a recognising smile at Jenny already in her place, she was able to smile back at them, though there were some who thought she looked very white, and found her very quiet when they tried to talk to her.
She couldn't help remarking to herself how little of the common resentment she felt towards the two on whose faces she now saw a happiness which she wondered she had not seen before.