IC:
Having read the letter in tense silence, she spun abruptly out of the chair and stormed off, toward her bedchambre, the tears streaming down the curve of each cheek. Her personal attendant, taken a little off her guard, followed as quickly as she could possibly manage and, at length, closed the portal to the room . . . not, however, before some of the servants, who had momentarily paused from their work,—after all, they were quite curious little gossips, one and all,—heard the following words, which were tinged with a slight outrage and a great sorrow:
“He does not love me! . . . Lands in the wilderness? . . . He does not love me! . . .”
And then there were sobs; and then the portal was shut, and the sounds were no more to be heard.
