For more than an hour she had cried and sobbed in blank misery, cried as never since the bitter days long ago, just after her mother's death.

Then, the fit over, something like a reaction of calm followed, and as she lay perfectly still in the darkness, her regular breathing would have led one to believe her asleep.

But she was only thinking, and in deed very far from sleep The long day in the open air had so affected her eyes that, as she looked up at the ceiling, it seemed to her to be a blue space, with light clouds constantly flitting across it.

Presently this impression became painful, and a growing restlessness made her rise.

The heat of the room was stifling, for just above was the roof, upon which all day the sun had poured its rays.