So earnest an effort was well deserving of a better reward.

On every hand, to her fatigued senses, the great business portion grew larger, harder, more stolid in its indifference.

It seemed as if it was all closed to her, that the struggle was too fierce for her to hope to do anything at all.

Men and women hurried by in long, shifting lines.

She felt the flow of the tide of effort and interest--felt her own helplessness without quite realising the wisp on the tide that she was.