"I hope it is well done and wisely." Indeed it had been a hard thing to say; but it was better to say it at once than to regret an ill-timed indulgence when it should be too late.
And yet it had cost her less to send him away definitely than it had cost her to resist his passionate appeal a month ago.

She seemed to have gained strength from her sorrows.

So he was gone! She gave a sigh of relief, which was instantly followed by a sharp throb of pain, so sudden that she hardly understood it.
Her preparations were all made.

She had at the last moment realised that it was not fitting for her, at her age, to travel alone, nor to live wholly alone in her widowhood.

She had revolved the matter in her mind, and had decided that there was no woman of her acquaintance whom she could ask even for a short time to stay with her.