Beyond, one rift of rich gold in that colourless grey evening seemed to make him stand out in dark relief.

She saw him, slender and firm, as if the setting sun had given him to her.

A deep pain took hold of her, and she knew she must love him.

And she had discovered him, discovered in him a rare potentiality, discovered his loneliness.

Quivering as at some "annunciation", she went slowly forward.
At last he looked up.
"Why," he exclaimed gratefully, "have you waited for me!" She saw a deep shadow in his eyes.
"What is it ?" she asked.
"The spring broken here;" and he showed her where his umbrella was injured.
Instantly, with some shame, she knew he had not done the damage himself, but that Geoffrey was responsible.
"It is only an old umbrella, isn't it ?" she asked.
She wondered why he, who did not usually trouble over trifles, made such a mountain of this molehill.
"But it was William's an' my mother can't help but know," he said quietly, still patiently working at the umbrella.
The words went through Miriam like a blade.