All thought of her own self, save as an instrument to save the life of the man she loved, was gone out of the girl.
Jealousy was purged out of her; all resentment for faithlessness, all longing for possession were gone.

She bore in her heart the greatest love of her life as she sped along down the frozen road to Kingston.
The last two miles of the way poor Madelon struggled hard to cover.
She drew short, gasping breaths, as if she were on a high mountain-top.

The cold strengthened as the daylight waned.

The very air seemed frozen and resolved into a cutting diamond-dust of frost.
Suddenly Madelon awoke to the fear that she could not walk much farther.

She had eaten nothing since morning; the cold and fatigue were consuming her life as the flame consumes the wick of the lamp when the oil is lacking.
"I must get there!" she said to herself.