The ringing of a bell, the drawing-room bell summoning Mrs.Enderby's maid, brought her back to consciousness, and with trembling limbs she regained her room.

It was as though some ghastly vision of the night had shaken her soul.

The habit of her mind overwhelmed her with the conviction that she knew at last the meaning of that mystery of horror which had of late been strengthening its hold upon her imagination.

The black cloud which lowered above the house had indeed its significance; the voices which wailed to her of sin and woe were the true expression of things amid which she had been moving unconsciously.

That instinct which made her shrink from her mother's presence was not without its justification; the dark powers which circled her existence had not vainly forced their influence upon her.
Her first impulse was to flee from the house; the air breathed pestilence and death, death of the soul.