Lizzie at the sound of the appeal in his voice had felt her heart expand, beat, so that her body seemed to hold, suddenly, some great possession that hurt her by its force and urgency. But she answered almost sharply: "Nonsense, Mr. Breton. Excuse me, but I've no patience with that kind of thing. People are meant to stand alone, not to go leaning about for other people's support. You're cursed with too much imagination, Mr. Breton, and you remember too clearly everything that's happened before. Begin now, as though you were born yesterday, and startle the family by your energy----" "Now you're laughing at me," he said hotly. "I dare say I deserve it, but I don't feel as though I could stand--very much of it from anyone to-day----" Then he was astonished by the sudden softness of her voice. "No, no, please," she said; "I understand so well. But indeed you have got friends who believe in you. Dr. Christopher, myself, if you'll count me, and lots more. You'll win everyone in time if you're not impatient and don't despair. Don't think of your grandmother too much. The mere fact of your not seeing her makes you imagine her as something portentous and dreadful, and she weighs you down, but she isn't really anything at all. She can't stop one's energies if one's determined to let them go. Please, please don't think I'm laughing. I only want to help----" "I know you do," he answered warmly, "I owe you more than I can say. All these last weeks you and Christopher have been the two people who've held the world together for me. But there's more than you know, Miss Rand. There's----" He bent towards her. She knew that the confidence was at last to be hers. It needed her strongest control to prevent the trembling of her hands. His eyes were alight, his whole body eloquent. At the thought of what he might be about to tell her the room turned before her. Voices in the little hall. Then the door opened and in came Mrs. Rand and Daisy. They had been to the play--_Such_ nonsense. One of these new, serious plays with long, long conversations--Mrs. Rand wanted tea. Daisy wanted admiration. Between Lizzie and Breton the precious cup had fallen, smashed to the tiniest atoms. Meanwhile aimless conversation was more than he, in his present mood, could endure. He made some excuse and, scarcely knowing what he did, found his hat and coat and went out into the square. III There had come to him one of those agonies of loneliness that no argument, no reasoning can destroy. The absence of any letter from Rachel seemed to show that she had abandoned him. In all this vast thickly peopled world there was now no one to whom his presence or absence, his fortunes or disasters mattered. The snowstorm gathered him into its folds; the snow fell against his mouth, his eyes, and before him, behind him, around him there was a world deserted of man, houses blind and without life.