Her heart was weaker, and fluttered, as if with a broken wing.

She thought, "if I can be near him to lean against him for one full hour!" it would make her strong again.

For, she found that if her heart was rising on a broad breath, suddenly, for no reason that she knew, it seemed to stop in its rise, break, and sink, like a wind-beaten billow.

Once or twice, in a quick fear, she thought: "What is this?
Is this a malady coming before death ?" She walked out gloomily, thinking of the darkness of the world to Wilfrid, if she should die.

She plucked flowers, and then reproached herself with plucking them.