But that was nearly six weeks ago, and she had had time to recover.

She had spent part of that period very peacefully and happily at the seaside with a young married cousin and her babies, and it had rested and refreshed her.

She had come back with a calm resolve to endure what had to be endured in a philosophical spirit, to face the inevitable without futile rebellion.
Girt in an impenetrable armour of reserve, she braced herself to bear her burdens unflinching, so that none might ever guess how it galled her.

And on that golden evening in September she prepared herself with a smiling countenance to meet her enemy in the gate.
They were returning from a prolonged honeymoon among the Italian lakes, and she had made everything ready for their coming.

The great west-facing bedroom, which her father had never occupied since her mother's death, had been redecorated and prepared as for a bride.