She remained in her usual place and was patient.

The atmosphere seemed to envelope her, and as it increased in density it oppressed her more and more, as if the horizon itself had become smaller and was shutting her in.

Everything weighed upon her heart.

Now there was a dull murmuring of voices in her brain; yet she was not able to hear them clearly, or to distinguish their meaning.

It was as if Nature itself had taken possession of her, and the earth, with the vast heavens above it, had penetrated into her being.