And yet-- Sick at heart, but imbued with the determination of a righteous cause, Alice Greggory resolved, for Billy's sake, to watch and wait.

If necessary she should speak to some one--though to whom she did not know.
Billy's happiness should not be put in jeopardy if she could help it.
Indeed, no! As the weeks passed, Alice came to be more and more uneasy, distressed, and grieved.

Of Billy she could believe no evil; but of Arkwright she was beginning to think she could believe everything that was dishonorable and despicable.

And to believe that of the man she still loved--no wonder that Alice did not look nor act like herself these days.
Incensed at herself because she did love him, angry at him because he seemed to be proving himself so unworthy of that love, and genuinely frightened at what she thought was the fast-approaching wreck of all happiness for her dear friend, Billy, Alice did not know which way to turn.

At the first she had told herself confidently that she would "speak to somebody." But, as time passed, she saw the impracticability of that idea.