Her friends would have felt astonishment and compassion had they learned how plain and slight was the fare that supported her; only by reducing her household expenditure to the strict minimum could she afford to dress in the manner of a lady, supply herself with a few papers and books, and keep up the appearances without which it is difficult to enjoy any society at all.
To-night she ate and drank with a bitter sense of her poverty and loneliness.

Before her mind's eye was the picture of Denzil Quarrier's study--its luxury, brightness, wealth of volumes; and Denzil's face made an inseparable part of the scene.

That face had never ceased to occupy her imagination since the evening of his lecture at the Institute.

Its haunting power was always greatest when she sat here alone in the stillness.

This little room, in which she had known the pleasures of independence and retirement, seemed now but a prison.