She could not define what she had done, or ought to have done.

How could she?
An encounter of this sort was as new to her as Mrs.Rexford's sewing machine, which she had not yet been allowed to touch.

Yet had she been shut up alone with the machine, as she was now shut up to revise her own conduct within herself, she would, by sheer force of determined intelligence, have mastered its intricacy to a large degree without asking aid.

And so with this strong idea that she must learn how to act differently to this young man; dim, indeed, as was her idea of what was lacking, or what was to be gained, she strove with it in no fear of failure.
She raised her head as she walked, and recast the interview just past in another form more suited to her vague ideal, and again in another.

She had a sense of power within her, that sense which powerful natures have, without in the least knowing in what direction the power may go forth, or when they will be as powerless--as Samson shaven.