bundle upon the settle, and saw that Diccon had provided fair
water for her face and hands; which done, I told her that supper
waited upon her convenience, and went back to the great room.

She was long in coming, so long that I grew impatient and went to
call her. The door was ajar, and so I saw her, kneeling in the
middle of the floor, her head thrown back, her hands raised and
clasped, on her face terror and anguish of spirit written so large
that I started to see it. I stared in amazement, and, had I followed
my first impulse, would have gone to her, as I would have gone to
any other creature in so dire distress. On second thoughts, I went
noiselessly back to my station in the great room. She had not seen
me, I was sure. Nor had I long to wait. Presently she appeared, and
I could have doubted the testimony of my eyes, so changed were
the agonized face and figure of a few moments before. Beautiful
and disdainful, she moved to the table, and took the great chair
drawn before it with the air of an empress mounting a throne. I
contented myself with the stool.

She ate nothing, and scarcely touched the canary I poured for her. I
pressed upon her wine and viands, - in vain; I strove to make
conversation, - equally in vain. Finally, tired of "yes" and "no"
uttered as though she were reluctantly casting pearls before swine,
I desisted, and applied myself to my supper in a silence as sullen as
her own. At last we rose from table, and I went to look to the
fastenings of door and windows, and returning found her standing
in the centre of the room, her head up and her hands clenched at
her sides. I saw that we were to have it out then and there, and I
was glad of it.