went away and left her alone
with her hatred.

All those weeks! She had deliberately left the ground free to Beryl for
all those weeks, and she had returned with no expectation of the thing
that of course had happened. And yet she had believed that she had an
excellent knowledge of life and of human beings. No doubt she had been
so concentrated upon herself, and the struggle within herself that she
had been unable to make any use of that knowledge. And so now she was
full of hatred and of profound humiliation.

When she had abruptly left England she had made up her mind to "have
done with it," that is to have done with love, to have done even
with sentimental friendship. She had resolved to plunge into complete
loneliness. Since she could not take Seymour into her intimate life,
since she now knew that was absolutely impossible, she must somehow
manage to get along permanently with nothing. And so, yielding to a
desperate impulse, she had resolved to seek an unaccustomed solitude.
She had fled from London. But she had stopped in Paris; although she had
intended to pass through it and to go straight on to Marseilles and the
Riviera. When the train had run in to the Gare du Nord she had told
her surprised maid that she was tired and would not go on that night.
Suddenly she had decided to seek out Caroline Briggs, to make a
confession, to ask for help and sympathy. And she had sent her maid to a
hotel, and had driven to Caroline's house.

But Caroline was not in Paris. A blue-cheeked, close-shaven French
footman had informed her that his mistress had been obliged to sail for
America three days before.

It had been a great blow to her. Confession, the cry for help, had been
almost on her lips as she had stood at the door before the keen-eyed
young man. And she had gone away feeling strangely lost and abandoned.

On the following morning she had left Paris and had travelled to the
Riviera. And, there, she had fought against herself and had lost the
battle.

Perhaps if she had been able to see Caroline the issue would have been
different. She almost believed that if she had once told the absolute
truth about herself to someone she might have found the courage to
put personal dignity in its right place at the head of her life as the
arbiter of what must not be done. Although she had defied Caroline ten
years ago, and had been punished for her defiance, she still had a deep
belief in Caroline's strength of character and