She grasped my arm tightly as she shut the door and locked it, saying as she did so, in a voice so altered from her usual tone, that it sounded strangely in my ears-- "'Thank you, my friend, for coming so soon.

I am in deep trouble, and need a counselor as well as a comforter.

I can trust you for both.' "I drew my arm around her, so that by act I could give more than the assurance of words, and walked from the door with her to a lounge between the windows, where we sat down.

Her face had a shrunken aspect, like the face of one who had been sick; and it showed also the marks of great suffering.
"'You may trust me as your own sister, Delia,' said I, 'and if in my power to counsel or to comfort, both will be freely accorded.' "I called her Delia, instead of Mrs.Dewey; not from design, but because the old name by which I had known her was first on my lips.
"I thought there was a sudden lifting of her eyes as I pronounced this name.

The effect, if any followed, was not to repel, but to draw her closer.
"'I am standing,' she said, speaking slowly and solemnly, 'at the edge of a deep abyss, my way hedged up on both sides, and enemies coming on behind.