ir, limp and unnerved.

_One day!_

She was facing the end and she knew it. Because she had to say No. She
had never for one minute admitted to herself the possibility of her
own surrender. She could give up Laurence, since she had to; but she
could not accept Inglesby. Anything rather than that! At the most, all
she had hoped was to evade that final No until the last moment, in
order to give Eustis what poor respite she could. Only her great love
for him had enabled her to do that much. And it had not helped. When
she thought of the wreck that must come, she beat her hands together,
softly, in sheer misery. It was like standing by and watching some
splendid ship being pounded to pieces on the rocks.

Only her innate bravery and her real and deep religious instinct saved
her from altogether sinking into inertia and despair. She _had_ to
arouse herself. Other women had faced situations equally as impossible
and unbearable as hers, and the best of them had not allowed
themselves to be whipped into tame and abject submission. Even at the
worst they had snatched the great chance to live their own lives in
their own way. As for her, surely there must be some way out of this
snarl, some immediate way that led to honorable freedom, even without
hope. But how and where was she to find any way open to her, between
now and to-morrow night?

On her dressing table, with a handful of trinkets upon it, lay the
tray that the Butterfly Man had sent her when she was graduated. Chin
in hands, Mary Virginia stared absently enough at the brightly colored
butterflies she had been told to remember were messengers bearing on
their wings the love of the Parish House people. Why--why--of course!
The Parish House people! They had blamed her, because they hadn't
understood. But if she were to ask the Parish House people for any
help within their power, she could be sure of receiving it without
stint.

If she could get to the Parish House without anybody knowing where she
was, Inglesby and Hunter would be balked of that interview to-morrow
night. The worst was going to happen anyhow, but if she couldn't save
herself from anything else, at least she could save herself from
facing them alone. To be able to do that, she would go now, in the
middle of the night, and tell the Padre everything. Unnerved as she
was, she couldn't face the hours between now and to-morrow morning
here, by herself. She had to get to the Parish House.

It was then aft