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appalled and enfeebled her senses But by an effort she rallied her

staggering faculties and ain the land

She made no mention of her encounter with death and her flash of terror,

except to say to her husband, "I thought I should have perished out

there alone"

"You were not so very far,you," he told her

Edna went at once to the bath-house, and she had put on her dry clothes

and was ready to return home before the others had left the water She

started to walk away alone They all called to her and shouted to her

She waved a dissenting hand, and went on, paying no further heed to

their renewed cries which sought to detain her

"Sometimes I am tempted to think that Mrs Pontellier is capricious,"

said Mada herself iht put an end to the pleasure

"I know she is," assented Mr Pontellier; "sometimes, not often"

Edna had not traversed a quarter of the distance on her way home before

she was overtaken by Robert