Storms in the physical and material sense are variously supposed to have two diametrically opposite effects; they may be regarded as likely to clear the air, or, on the other hand, to cause a general unsettlement in the weather. And mental or spiritual storms can in the same way either be the precursors and causes of serene blue weather, or they can produce a disturbance of equilibria which is not easily or immediately adjusted again; the violent agitation sets everything shaking and jarring. And the worst of it is that there is no barometer known which will reliably predict which of these effects is likely to be produced. To speak of a thing, "to have it out" as the phrase goes, may get rid of it altogether; it may be pricked like a puff-ball and vanish in a little dust and smoke, leaving an empty bladder, and again "to have it out" may but emphasise and make its existence more real. The "having it out," in fact, is but a sort of preliminary examination, which proves whether there is something there or whether there is nothing. This talk between Evelyn and his wife had its distinct analogy to a storm. Things had been gathering up--indeed they were clouds--in Madge's mind ever since Le Touquet, and though their bursting had been unaccompanied by rain or explosions, yet to-night they had been undeniably discharged, and it remained only to see whether the air should prove to have been cleared, or whether the disturbance had upset the moral atmosphere. Again, they had "had it out," she had indicated where her trouble lay, or rather he had laid an unerring finger on it, and as physician had said "Leave it alone; that is my suggestion. Don't let us hear any more about it." She fully intended to follow his advice, but half-consciously she made a reservation, for she knew that some time--next week, next month, next year--she must know that either he had been right, and that the trouble had vanished, or that he had been wrong and the trouble had grown worse. And so some secret sense of uncertainty and unsatisfiedness sat somewhere deep in the shadows of her heart. It did not often obtrude its presence, but she knew it was there.