Starts and shudders indicated her mental anguish.

Yet no sound escape her, until, in a sudden convulsion of her frame, she gave a cry of terror, and threw herself at full length upon the ground.

There she lay, struggling with hysterical passion, half choked by sobs, now and then uttering a hoarse wail, at length weeping with the self-abandonment of a child.
It lasted for ten minutes or more, and then followed a long silence.
Her body still quivered; she lay with her face half hidden against the hearth-rug, lips parted, but teeth set, breathing heavily.
The clock upon her mantelpiece sounded the third quarter--a quarter to nine.

It drew her attention, and at length she half raised herself.
Still she had the look of one who listens.

She stood up, mechanically smoothed her hair, and twice walked the length of the room.