She was alone.

In a silence intense she lifted her head at last, and knew that for half an hour she was safe from interruption.
Far away over the snow she heard a distant church clock tolling midnight.
It ceased, and in the silence she thought she heard her stretched nerves cracking one by one.

Soon--very soon--she would have to go down to him and fight the final battle for her freedom.

But she would wait till the very last minute.

She would spend the whole of the brief time accorded to her in mustering all her strength.