The child was standing, motionless, with so old, so desperate a gaze of despair that it was something indecent for any human being to watch.
V Nurse came in from her afternoon.

She had heard nothing of the recent catastrophe, and, as she saw Angelina sitting quietly in front of the fire she thought that she had had her tea, and was now "dreaming" as she so often did.

Once, however, as she was busy in another part of the room, she caught half the face in the light of the fire.

To any one of a more perceptive nature that glimpse must have seemed one of the most tragic things in the world.

But this was a woman of "a sensible, hearty" nature; moreover, her "afternoon" had left her with happy reminiscences of her own charms and their effect on the opposite sex.
She had, however, her moment....