She raised her head slowly and wearily as the young girl entered, and then started visibly, as she recognized her.
"It is I," said Veronica, when she had closed the door.
She came and stood beside the couch on which her aunt lay, and she looked down at the reclining woman.

Matilde's listless hands suddenly clasped each other.
"Yes," she answered, with an effort.

"Are you going out?
Are you well enough to go out ?" she asked, adding the last question quickly.
"I should go if I were much more ill than I have been," Veronica replied.

"I am not coming back." "Not coming back ?" Surprise brought energy into Matilde's voice.
"No.

I am not coming back.