n to imagine what
she might do if she were thus left mistress of the situation; and she
devised a scheme of action for these circumstances that, in its clever
adaptation to what would be required, would have greatly amazed the man
who looked upon her as an unthinking child.

The difference between a strong and a weak mind is not that the strong
mind does not indulge itself in wild fancies, but that it never gives to
such fancy the power of capricious sway over the centres of purpose.
This young woman was strong in mind as in body. No flickering intention
of actually performing that which she had imagined had place within her.
She played with the idea of death as she might have played with a toy,
while resting herself from the angry question into which her whole being
had for two days concentrated itself, as to how she could thwart the
will of the man who had assumed authority over her, and gain the freedom
that she felt was necessary to life itself.

She had not lain many minutes upon the out-growing birch before she had
again forgotten her gust of revengeful fancy, and yielded herself to her
former serious mood with a reaction of greater earnestness. The winter
beauty of the brook, the grey, silent trees above, and the waste of dry
curled leaves all round--these faded from her observation because the
eye of her mind was again turned inwards to confront the circumstances
of her difficulty.

As she leaned thus in childlike attitude and womanly size, her arms
twined round the tree and her cheek resting on its smooth surface, that
clumsiness which in all young animals seems inseparable from the period
when recent physical growth is not yet entirely permeated by the
character-life which gives it individual expression, was not apparent
and any intelligent eye seeing her would have seen large beauty in her
figure, which, like a Venus in the years when art was young, had no
cramped proportions. Her rough, grey dress hung heavily about her; the
moccasins that encased her feet were half hidden in the loose pile of
dry leaves which had drifted high against the root of the tree. There
was, however, no visible eye there to observe her youthful comeliness or
her youthful distress. If some angel was near, regarding her, she did
not know it, and if she had, she would not have been much interested;
there was nothing in her mood to respond to angelic pity or
appreciation. As it was, the strong tree was impotent to return her
embrace;