The old lady went to and fro between the two.

It was not easy to discover how much she comprehended of it all.

Her mouth, surrounded by its innumerable wrinkles, was so tightly closed that gossip was, for her, out of the question.

Calmly and methodically did Miss Cordsen carry on her duties.

Both upstairs and down were to be seen her well-starched cap-strings, and the faint, old-fashioned smell of lavender seemed to hang in her very clothes.
Rachel sat for hours looking before her, without caring to do anything.
To think that this should be the end of all her hopes! Was it, then, impossible to find a man with courage in his heart, and blood in his veins?
She felt that she was precluded from any line of action that would really satisfy her, condemned as she was to a life of daily drudgery; but her thoughts became more and more embittered, first against him who had deceived her, and finally against the whole human race.
Madeleine, on the contrary, had no feelings of this nature; but she had a feeling of dread, which seemed daily to increase.