which her thoughts rattled about as thoughts might, she
supposed, in the first moments after death--before one got used
to it. To get used to being dead: that seemed to be her
immediate business. And she felt such a novice at it--felt so
horribly alive! How had those others learned to do without
living? Nelson--well, he was still in the throes; and probably
never would understand, or be able to communicate, the lesson
when he had mastered it. But Grace Fulmer--she suddenly
remembered that Grace was in Paris, and set forth to find her.



XXIV

NICK LANSING had walked out a long way into the Campagna. His
hours were seldom his own, for both Mr. and Mrs. Hicks were
becoming more and more addicted to sudden and somewhat imperious
demands upon his time; but on this occasion he had simply
slipped away after luncheon, and taking the tram to the Porta
Salaria, had wandered on thence in the direction of the Ponte
Nomentano.

He wanted to get away and think; but now that he had done it the
business proved as unfruitful as everything he had put his hand
to since he had left Venice. Think--think about what? His
future seemed to him a negligible matter since he had received,
two months earlier, the few lines in which Susy had asked him
for her freedom.

The letter had been a shock--though he had fancied himself so