Her left hand still held mine, but her right hand hung listlessly at her side. He raised it gently to his lips⁠—touched it with them, rather than kissed it⁠—bowed to me⁠—and then, with perfect delicacy and discretion, silently quitted the room.

She neither moved nor said a word when he was gone⁠—she sat by me, cold and still, with her eyes fixed on the ground. I saw it was hopeless and useless to speak, and I only put my arm round her, and held her to me in silence. We remained together so for what seemed a long and weary time⁠—so long and so weary, that I grew uneasy and spoke to her softly, in the hope of producing a change.

The sound of my voice seemed to startle her into consciousness. She suddenly drew herself away from me and rose to her feet.

“I must submit, Marian, as well as I can,” she said. “My new life has its hard duties, and one of them begins today.”