. She was no longer the miserable instrument on which he tried
his changes of mood; she was again the giver and the bestower, since
she held a heart and a heart's happiness in the hollow of her hand.

What people would think and say was a matter of indifference to her:
besides, they practically believed the worst of her already. No; she
had nothing to lose and, it might be, much to gain. And after all, it
meant so little! The first time, perhaps; or if one cared too much. But
in this case, where she had herself well in hand, and where there was
no chance of the blind desire to kill self arising, which had been her
previous undoing; where the chief end aimed at was the retention of a
friend--here, it meant nothing at all.

The thought that she might possibly have scruples on his part to
combat, crossed her mind. She stretched her arm straight above her
head, then laid it across her eyes again. She would like him none the
less for these scruples, did they exist: now, she believed that, at
heart, she had really appreciated his reserve, his holding back, where
others would have been so ready to pounce in. For the first time, she
considered him in the light of a lover, and she saw him differently. As
if the mere contemplation of such a change brought her nearer to him,
she was stirred by a new sensation, which had him as its object. And
under the influence of this feeling, she told herself that perhaps just
in this gentler, kindlier love, which only sought her welfare, true
happiness lay. She strained to read the future. There would be storms
neither of joy nor of pain; but watchful sympathy, and the fine, manly
tenderness that shields and protects. Oh, what if after all her
passionate craving for happiness, it was here at her feet, having come
to her as good things often do, unexpected and unsought!

She could lie still no longer; she sprang up, with an alacrity that had
been wanting in her movements of late. And throughout the long day,
this impression, which was half a hope and half a belief was present to
her mind, making everything she did seem strangely festive. She almost
feared the moment when she would see him again, lest anything he said
should dissipate her hope.

When he came, her eyes followed him searchingly. With an instinct that
was now morbidly sharpened, Maurice was aware of the change in her,
even before he saw her eyes. His own were one devouring question.

She made him sit down beside her.

"What i