She threw herself recklessly, madly into the encouragement and support of the man who had taken up the task which, in her eyes, should have been her lover's.

It had become to her a _fight_--with society, with the law, with Aldous--in which her whole nature was absorbed.

In the course of the fight she had realised Aldous's strength, and it was a bitter offence to her.
How little she could do after all! She gathered together all the newspapers that were debating the case, and feverishly read every line; she wrote to Wharton, commenting on what she read, and on his letters; she attended the meetings of the Reprieve Committee which had been started at Widrington; and she passed hours of every day with Minta Hurd and her children.

She would hardly speak to Mary Harden and the rector, because they had not signed the petition, and at home her relations with her father were much strained.

Mr.Boyce was awakening to a good deal of alarm as to how things might end.