But the thought moved her only a little.

Whether or not it was due to her illness, she seemed to have undergone a reaction in regard to the factory.

Everything was going on well, Judge Cutler sometimes told her.
As the men returned from service, the women were giving up their places.
"Whatever you do," he always concluded, "don't begin worrying about things down there.

If you do, you'll never get well." "I'm not worrying," she told him, and once she added, "It seems ever so long ago, somehow--that time we had down there." As the spring advanced, her thoughts took her further than ever from their old paths.

Instead of thinking of something else (as she used to do), when Helen was telling of her love affairs, Mary began to listen to them--and even to sit up till Helen returned from the club.