Her face was bright with smiles, and her words had even a ring of mirth in them; but below all there was a stubborn weight that she could not throw off, a darkness of spirit that no sunshine could brighten.

Since Julius had come into their home, home had never been the same.

There was a stranger at the table and in all its sweet, familiar places, and she was sure that to her he always would be a stranger.
Something was said or done that put them farther apart every day.

She could not understand how any Sandal could be so absolutely out of her love and sympathy.

Who has not experienced these invasions of hostile natures?
Alien voices, characters fundamentally different, yet bound to them by natural ties which the soul refuses to recognize.
The somberness of her thoughts affected her surroundings very much as rain affects the atmosphere.