The silence lasted for two minutes: Dolly was thinking of herself.

That humiliation of which she was always conscious came back to her with a peculiar bitterness when her sister reminded her of it.

She had not looked for such cruelty in her sister, and she was angry with her.

But suddenly she heard the rustle of a skirt, and with it the sound of heart-rending, smothered sobbing, and felt arms about her neck.