Then came the cold shock, and the gloom of fear.

Harold would never have written thus unless he was going away! It was a farewell! For a long time she stood, motionless, holding the letter in her hand.
Then she said, half aloud: 'Comfort! Comfort! There is no more comfort in the world for me! Never, never again! Oh, Harold! Harold!' She sank on her knees beside her bed, and buried her face in her cold hands, sobbing in all that saddest and bitterest phase of sorrow which can be to a woman's heart: the sorrow that is dry-eyed and without hope.
Presently the habit of caution which had governed her last days woke her to action.

She bathed her eyes, smoothed her hair, locked the letter and its enclosure in the little jewel-safe let into the wall, and came down to breakfast.
The sense of loss was so strong on her that she forgot herself.

Habit carried her on without will or voluntary effort, and, so faithfully worked to her good that even the loving eyes of her aunt--and the eyes of love are keen--had no suspicion that any new event had come into her life.
Not till she was alone in her room that night did Stephen dare to let her thoughts run freely.

In the darkness her mind began to work truly, so truly that she began at the first step of logical process: to study facts.