All this speaking generally.

In Flora de Barral's particular case ever since Anthony had suddenly broken his way into her hopeless and cruel existence she lived like a person liberated from a condemned cell by a natural cataclysm, a tempest, an earthquake; not absolutely terrified, because nothing can be worse than the eve of execution, but stunned, bewildered--abandoning herself passively.

She did not want to make a sound, to move a limb.

She hadn't the strength.
What was the good?
And deep down, almost unconsciously she was seduced by the feeling of being supported by this violence.

A sensation she had never experienced before in her life.
She felt as if this whirlwind were calming down somehow! As if this feeling of support, which was tempting her to close her eyes deliciously and let herself be carried on and on into the unknown undefiled by vile experiences, were less certain, had wavered threateningly.