It came upon her suddenly.

She had left a young creature all softly rounded girlhood, sweet curves and life glow and bloom.

She found herself holding a thin hand and looking into a transparent, sharpened small face whose eyes were hollowed.

The silk of the curls on the forehead had a dankness and lifelessness which almost made her catch her breath again.

Like Mrs.James she herself had more than once had the experience of watching young creatures slip into what the nurses of her day called "rapid decline" and she knew all the piteous portents of the early stages--the waxen transparency of sharpened features and the damp clinging hair.