"We're together, we're together," Mrs. Gereth lifelessly repeated. "That's all we are now; it's all we have." The words brought to Fleda a sudden vision of the empty little house at Ricks; such a vision might also have been what her companion found in the face of the stopped Dutch clock. Yet with this it was clear that she would now show no bitterness: she had done with that, had given the last drop to those horrible hours in London. No passion even was left to her, and her forbearance only added to the force with which she represented the final vanity of everything. "Does Mona?"!

"They're married?" Mrs. Gereth turned on her sharply. "Ready for what? Ready to see me ruined without a reason or a reward?"

"But twice?" Mrs. Gereth still smiled. "I know I did. I was afraid to show it." "That's horrible!" said Fleda, looking at him in woe.