Again she smiled grimly, and chancing to be just then before the mirror, she saw that her face had all at once grown old since yesterday.

And in spite of her strength of body and will, she felt weak and exhausted, and hated the hours that were to be between.
But when she had spoken to Gregorio, she would go out alone, on foot.
And she knew that she should find the address given on Giuditta Astarita's card, and enter the house and see the woman who had written to her, and hear the message that was promised.

If she left her own house, her feet must take her that way, whether she would or not.
And so it all happened just as she foresaw.

But she had not known that in threading the intricate, dark streets she would almost forget what she was to do that day, in the mad hope of the one more word from beyond.

She had not known that at the thought her eyes would brighten eagerly, the colour would come back to her cheeks, and the strength to her limbs as she walked.