But she! Was she to show no firmer spirit whose love was of the soul and took no note of time?
She was his wife, and acknowledged or unacknowledged, must yet prove to be his blessing though he--he---- But this would not do.

The interview before her called for calmness.

She would not add to the turbulence of her spirits by another glance at what brought back too much of the past to fortify her for the impending struggle.

She had to do credit to his choice, to impress a difficult woman with her dignity as a wife.

She must not shake nor weep.
Yet when she heard a step at the door, instinct told her to pull down her veil till the first greetings were over--a precaution for which she was deeply grateful when in another moment a young woman entered instead of her husband's mother for whom she had asked and whom she naturally expected to see.
In the humiliation of the moment, her disappointment took words and she muttered within herself: "A companion or possibly a relative.