ped clean out, as if it had never been."

But all had not been wiped out. Some of what happened had been written
down in May's mind and couldn't be wiped out.

"Don't go this moment; sit down for a little, before you go and dress,"
said Lady Dashwood, "and I'll try and sit, for I must talk, I must talk,
and, May dear, you must listen. Come back, dear!"

Lady Dashwood sat down on one side of the fireplace and looked at May,
as she came back and seated herself on the opposite side. There was the
fireplace between them.

"Aren't you glad?" asked Lady Dashwood. "Aren't you glad, May?"

"I am very glad," said May. "I rejoice--in your joy."

Lady Dashwood leaned back in her chair, and let her eyes rest on May's
face.

"I can't describe to you what I felt when Gwendolen came in half an hour
ago. She came in quietly, her face pale and her eyes swollen, and said
quite abruptly: 'I have broken on my engagement with Dr. Middleton.
Please don't scold me, please don't talk about it; please let me go. I'm
miserable enough as it is,' and she put two letters into my hand and
went. May, I took the letter addressed to Jim and locked it up, for a
horrible fear came on me that some one might destroy that letter.
Besides, I had also the fear that because the thing was so sudden it
might somehow not be true. Well, then I came down here again and waited
for you. I waited in the dark, trying to rest. You came in very late. I
scarcely knew how to wait. I suppose I am horribly excited. I am feeling
now as Louise feels constantly, but I can't get any relief in the way
she does. A Frenchwoman never bottles up anything; her method is to wear
other people out and save her own strength by doing so. From our cradles
we are smacked if we express our emotions; but foreigners have been
encouraged to express their emotions. They believe it necessary and
proper to do so. They gesticulate and scream. It is a confirmed habit
with them to do so, and it doesn't mean much. I dare say when you or I
just say 'Oh!' it means more than if Louise uttered persistent shrieks
for half an hour. But she is a good soul----" And Lady Dashwood ran on
in this half-consequent, half-inconsequent way, while May sat in her
chair, busy trying to hide the trembling of her knees. They would
tremble. She tried holding them with her hands, but they refused to stop
shaking. Once they trembled too obviously, and Lady Dashwood said, in a
changed tone, as if she had suddenly observ