And both the empty space and the ashen sky seemed to be not outside of himself, but a part of the hidden country within his mind.
"You were at the ball," she burst out suddenly, as if she had been holding back the charge from the beginning.
"At the ball ?" he repeated, and the words were spoken with his lips merely in that objective world of routine and habit.

"Yes, I was there.
It was a dull business." She laughed again with the lack of merriment he had noticed before.
Though her face was made for laughter, there was an oddly conflicting note of tragedy in her voice.

"Was it dull?
I didn't notice." "Then you must have enjoyed it ?" "But you were there.

You saw what happened.

Every one must have seen." Her savage candour brushed away the flimsy amenities.