For the whole matter, as she understood it was secret, sacred too as it was agonizing.

No one must guess what lay at the root of her present suffering--not even comfortable devoted Mary, nor that invaluable lifebelt, Dr.McCabe.She held the honour of both those conflicting interchangeable personalities in her hands; and, whether she were strong enough to adjust their differences or not, she must in no wise betray either of them.

The latent motherhood in her cried out to protect and to shield them both, to spare them both.

For in this stage of the affair, while the hallucinations of deadly fever--in a sense mercifully--confused her, its grosser aspects did not present themselves to her mind.

She wandered through mazes, painful enough to tread; but far removed from the ugliness of vulgar scandal.