Then, Barbara absorbed more than ever of Helen's attention, and Mary was not allowed to share in these rites and services because "she always made Barbara cry." She was, therefore, very much alone, and felt all her injuries twice as deeply as she had felt them before.

Hamlet began to be an obsession with her.

She had always had a habit of talking to herself, and now she could be heard telling herself that if it were not for the dog, Jeremy would always be with her, would play with her, walk with her, laugh with her as he used to do.

She acquired now an awkward habit of gazing at him with passionate intensity.

He would raise his eyes and find the great moon-faced spectacles fixed upon him with a beseeching, reproachful glare in the light of them.