The great Mrs.De Peyster! He wondered what had thus changed her from the all-commanding presence of a few moments since; for within that perfection of a study he had overheard nothing.

An instant he stood thus at her back, alert to disappear upon the warning of a changing breath--the two but an arm's reach apart, and apparently about to go their separate ways forever--she unconscious of him, and he equally unconscious of the seed of a common drama which their own acts had already sown--with never a thought that ships that pass in the night may possibly alter their courses and meet again in the morning.
He slipped on out of the room, closing the door without a sound.

In the hallway he paused.

He wished to see Miss Gardner again, ignorant of the sudden fate that had befallen her.

But he decided little would be gained by trying for another meeting.