It seemed to her that he had discarded the friendship, when it suited his convenience to do so, with some falsely philosophical theory which made his conduct all the worse.

She was going on to express herself thus, had not Mary at once interrupted her.
"No, no," she said; "you don't understand.

If there's any fault it's mine entirely; after all, if one chooses to run risks--" Her voice faltered into silence.

It was borne in upon her how completely in running her risk she had lost her prize, lost it so entirely that she had no longer the right, in talking of Ralph, to presume that her knowledge of him supplanted all other knowledge.

She no longer completely possessed her love, since his share in it was doubtful; and now, to make things yet more bitter, her clear vision of the way to face life was rendered tremulous and uncertain, because another was witness of it.