And yet in going over all that had happened and all that was likely to happen, she became more than ever convinced that either his visit must be repeated, or that she alone must make the announcement that had trembled on Stephen's lips.

She had recognized, almost from the first, that despite the relief her mistress had enjoyed in the little apartment some strong, masculine hand and mind were needed to stem the tide of further disaster.

Her own practical common sense also told her that their present way of living was far too precarious to be counted upon.

Lady Barbara's position with Rosenthal was but temporary.

At any moment it might be lost, and then would follow another dreary hunt for work, with all its rebuffs, and sooner or later the delicately nurtured woman would succumb and go under in a mental or physical collapse, the hospital her only alternative.
None of these forebodings, it must be said, had filled Lady Barbara's mind.