At sight of them, my heart thumped hard within me, and I resolved at least to say a word for myself.

But as I doffed my cap and crossed the way to meet them, I saw that my mistress looked hurt and distant, and, turning her head from me, drew the maid's arm in hers, and walked forward without heeding me.

It stunned me, so that I could not even put one foot before the other, but stood there in the road, cap in hand, gasping for breath, and gazing after them like a man in a trance.

Once, when they had gone a step or two, Jeannette glanced round with tears in her eyes, and a look that seemed not all reproach.

But her mother drew her forward, and she turned; after which, for long enough, I saw her face no more.
That moment, as I stood there, was a crisis with me.