She, too, had estimated her strength and his.

She knew by instinct what his face meant--the swollen, trembling lips, the hot eyes; and understood that he was capable of any baseness.

To attempt to reach her home would be an abandonment of all hope, the ruin of Denzil.

A means of escape from worst extremity, undiscoverable by her whirling brain, might suggest itself to such a mind as Mrs.Wade's.

If only she could communicate with the cottage! "Then I shall go to my friend here," she said, pointing.
He hesitated.
"Who is she ?" "A lady who lives quite alone." "What's the good of your going there ?" She had recourse to artifice, and acted weakness much better than he had simulated strength.
"I _must_ have some one's advice! I must know how others regard your claim." He saw no possibility of restraining her, and it might befall that this lady, intentionally or not, would use her influence on his side.