Really--with all respect to you--I must say it.

It is wildly absurd!" And the longer she thought of it, the more absurd it seemed.

The girl was naturally both sensible and brave, and the whole tale was monstrous in her eyes, though while he had been telling it she had fallen under the spell of its thrilling interest, forgetting that it was all about herself.

She looked at the quiet old priest, with his extraordinary face and quiet manner, and it was far easier to believe that a man with such features might be mad than that her Aunt Matilde meant to kill her.

He was silent for a few moments.
"There is a terrible logic in the absurdity," he said at last.