But she had eluded him, eluded him at the very moment of her freshness and happiness and triumph.

What defeat to his proud spirit was working now in him?
What longing?
What fierce determination to secure even now his ends?
The change that I fancied in him was perhaps no more than his bracing of his strength and courage to face new conditions.

Death had robbed him of his possession--so much the worse then for Death! Upon this day of icy cold, as I write these words, I am afraid that my account may be taken as an extravagant and unjustified conceit.

But that I do most honestly believe it not to be.

I myself felt, during my two days' stay in that place, the strangest contact with new experiences, new developments, new relationships.