The hand that he stretched out to her was trembling also.

She put her own into it.

He held her hand tightly for a moment, then dropped it suddenly and almost fled from the room, without uttering a word.
For a few moments she stood where he had left her, and then she went to a sofa and seated herself upon it.

The tears that had come to her eyes before, now began to fall; she thought, girl that she was, that she could understand what were the feelings of the man who had just parted from her.

She thought that he was overcome at the reflection that the distinction which he had won in the world could not be shared by those whom he loved, those who would have valued far more than he did the honor that was being done to him.
The pity of it! Oh, the pity of it! Ella had told her one day when they had talked together about Herbert Courtland, that he had no relation alive, that he stood alone in the world.