How could she ever possibly begin to care for a man who did not admire her hero?
Oh, why had she ever placed herself under an obligation to him, ever consented to the forging of that bond between them, elastic though it might be?
Of course it could be severed.

He had said so.

And severed it should be at once.

But why had she ever suffered it?
It weighed upon her intolerably now that she realized in what foundry its links had been cast.

Even her enemy's impertinences would be easier to bear--now that she knew.
Again, as morning broke, she told herself that this thing was an impossibility after all, that Nick had been misled, or had spoken in jest.