-for many
morrows afterwards, perhaps for all morrows to come,--there would be
no comfortable wardrobe to which she could go for such decent changes
of raiment as she required. She looked at her frock, and having one
darker and thicker than that she wore, she changed it instantly. And
then it was not only her garments that she was leaving behind her.
For ever afterwards,--for ever and ever and ever,--she must be a
castaway. The die had been thrown now, and everything was over. She
was leaving behind her all decency, all feminine respect, all the
clean ways of her pure young life, all modest thoughts, all honest,
serviceable daily tasks, all godliness, all hope of heaven! The
silent, quick-running tears streamed down her face as she moved
rapidly about the room. The thing must be done, must be done,--must
be done, even though earth and heaven were to fail her for ever
afterwards. Earth and heaven would fail her for ever afterwards, but
still the thing must be done. All should be endured, if by that all
she could escape from the man she loathed.

She collected a few things, what little store of money she had,--four
or five gulden, perhaps,--and a pair of light shoes and clean
stockings, and a fresh handkerchief or two, and a little collar,
and then she started. He had told her to bring what she could carry
easily. She must not disobey him, but she would fain have brought
more had she dared. At the last moment she returned, and took a small
hair-brush and a comb. Then she looked round the room with a hurried
glance, put out her candle, and crept silently down the stairs. On
the first landing she paused, for it was possible that Peter might
be returning. She listened, and then remembered that she would have
heard Peter's feet even on the walk outside. Very quickly, but still
more gently than ever, she went down the last stairs. From the foot
of the stairs into the passage there was a moment in which she must
be within sight of the kitchen door. She flew by, and felt that she
must have been seen. But she was not seen. In an instant she was at
the open window, and in another instant she was standing beside her
lover on the gravel path. What he said to her she did not hear; what
he did she did not know. She had completed her task now; she had done
her part, and had committed herself entirely into his hands. She
would ask no question. She would trust him entirely. She only knew
that at the moment his arm was round her, and tha