And she left me.
Am I dreaming, or are people in this country incomprehensible and demented?
CHAPTER XIII
Louise looked her doom in the face with steady eyes. No more hope, no more doubt was possible. This was November. The third month had passed.
What she had dreaded more than death had come to pass. From the first hour the fear of it had haunted her. Now she knew. She knew that the outrage to which she had been subjected would endure; she knew that her shame would live.
In the middle of the night after tossing sleeplessly for hours, the full realization of this struck her heart like a blow. She sat up with clenched teeth in the darkness, her hands pressed to her temples.
After a while she slid from her bed and stood motionless in the middle of the room. Around her the world was asleep. She was alone with her despair and her horror.
How should she elude her fate? How should she flee from herself and the horror within her?