The maid enquired if she wished to have her hair smoothed first, and she answered that it didn’t matter; but when the door had closed, the instinct of pride drew her to her feet and she looked at herself in the glass above the mantelpiece and passed her hands over her hair. Her eyes were burning and her face looked tired and thinner; otherwise she could see no change in her appearance, and she wondered that at such a moment her body should seem as unrelated to the self that writhed within her as if it had been a statue or a picture. The maid reopened the door to show in Darrow, and he paused a moment on the threshold, as if waiting for Anna to speak. He was extremely pale, but he looked neither ashamed nor uncertain, and she said to herself, with a perverse thrill of appreciation: “He’s as proud as I am.” Aloud she asked: “You wanted to see me?” “Naturally,” he replied in a grave voice. “Don’t! It’s useless. I know everything. Nothing you can say will help.” At the direct affirmation he turned even paler, and his eyes, which he kept resolutely fixed on her, confessed his misery. “You allow me no voice in deciding that?” “Deciding what?” “That there’s nothing more to be said?” He waited for her to answer, and then went on: “I don’t even know what you mean by ‘everything’.” “Oh, I don’t know what more there is! I know enough. I implored her to deny it, and she couldn’t...What can you and I have to say to each other?” Her voice broke into a sob. The animal anguish was upon her again--just a blind cry against her pain! Darrow kept his head high and his eyes steady. “It must be as you wish; and yet it’s not like you to be afraid.” “Afraid?” “To talk things out--to face them.” “It’s for YOU to face this--not me!” “All I ask is to face it--but with you.” Once more he paused. “Won’t you tell me what Miss Viner told you?” “Oh, she’s generous--to the utmost!” The pain caught her like a physical throe. It suddenly came to her how the girl must have loved him to be so generous--what memories there must be between them! “Oh, go, please go. It’s too horrible. Why should I have to see you?” she stammered, lifting her hands to her eyes. With her face hidden she waited to hear him move away, to hear the door open and close again, as, a few hours earlier, it had opened and closed on Sophy Viner. But Darrow made no sound or movement: he too was waiting. Anna felt a thrill of resentment: his presence was an outrage on her sorrow, a humiliation to her pride. It was strange that he should wait for her to tell him so! “You want me to leave Givre?” he asked at length. She made no answer, and he went on: “Of course I’ll do as you wish; but if I go now am I not to see you again?” His voice was firm: his pride was answering her pride! She faltered: “You must see it’s useless----” “I might remind you that you’re dismissing me without a hearing----” “Without a hearing? I’ve heard you both!”