To do good and to receive gratitude were all but the prime necessities of Lilian's heart.

Obeying her impulse, she began to say all manner of kind, tender, hopeful things.

Was there not a similarity between this girl's position and that in which she had herself stood when consenting to the wretched marriage which happily came to an end at the church door?
Another woman might have been disposed to say, in the female parrot-language: "But do you love him or not?
That is the whole question." It was _not_ the whole question, even granting that love had spoken plainly; and Lilian understood very well that it is possible for a girl to contemplate wedlock without passionate feeling such as could obscure her judgment.
They talked with much intimacy, much reciprocal good-will, and Serena took her leave with a comparatively cheerful mind.

She had resolved what to do.
And the opportunity for action came that afternoon.

Glazzard called upon her.