The blighted sensation which accompanies the recoil of an emotion seemed to suspend not only the energy of her spirit, but the very breath in her body.

A change had passed over her heart and the world around her and the persons and events which had so recently composed her universe.

She felt now that she cared for none of them, that, one and all, they had ceased to interest her; and that the things which filled their lives were all vacant and meaningless forms.

It was as if the vitality of existence had been drained away, leaving an empty shell.

Nothing was real, nothing was alive but the aching core of her own wounded heart.
"I don't care.