Now that the forest was compassionate, her mind unloosed itself all at once in a great rush of hurrying thoughts that went out like waves into the leafage, communicating her secret without the tedious use of words. “I had no right to him. His mother meant us always to be brother and sister--to keep us apart. She didn’t really think I was as good as he. She only took me because his father wanted me. She didn’t know what his father said, once, when he teased me: ‘I chose you because you were the prettiest of all the children. Your gray eyes asked me to take you, and so I had to. You were a little fairy without any father or mother.’ She would have given him up some day to some one else. But I wanted him. I needed him. She would never forgive me if she knew. I never told anyone, not even him. He would have married me. His father would have made him marry me. But I kept away from him, after I knew. And he--” “And he, and he,” whistled the trees. The sky became dark, the wind came in a gale, the branches crashed together and began lashing her. Despair overwhelmed her. “Now I shall be destroyed. They were only trapping me.” She submitted herself to annihilation. The branches lashed her, lashed her clothes away, lashed into her flesh.... “Poor thing! She didn’t know what she was doing. I thought at first she had done it on purpose. She doesn’t seem to know she’s had a baby.” She lay and listened with closed eyes. She felt she was lying in a pool of water that softened her flesh, took life away from her. “It looks real pretty in that little dress of Gertrude’s. I always felt I’d have use for those baby clothes some day, but I didn’t think it would be like this.” They brought it for her to see. She looked upon it dry-eyed. She knew that they wanted her to cry. Foolish people! Why should one cry for a Sin once it is dead? She was sitting up.... She could walk a little.... She dressed herself and came out on the porch. They were kind. They never asked her anything. She knew they hoped she would tell them. The husband spoke clumsily to her. They were sorry--could they help her? She shook her head. Early in the morning she awoke. She felt quite clear. She must be on the road. She dressed hastily, quietly, was out of the house. The road led her. She walked fast, following it through the forest. She did not know where she went. She simply went on. By and by she would come out of the forest and there would be a town and there she would step off the road. She walked quickly, she felt so light. She was light for her Sin was gone. She walked quickly for a long time. She became tired. She sat down to rest. Nothing within her urged her on. There was a great emptiness within her, a consuming emptiness. She felt how heavy her breasts were and how great her emptiness was. She wanted to go up in the forest and lie down. She did not dare. The forest and earth seemed allied against her, trees and earth together, their oneness held her out.