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Who shall unravel the mystery of a woman's weeping? Who shall declare
whether it is a pain or a relief to the overcharged heart? The dignity
of a crowned queen is capable of utterly dissolving and disappearing in
a shower of tears, when Love's burning finger touches the pulse and
marks its slow or rapid beatings. And Thelma wept as many of her sex
weep, without knowing why, save that all suddenly she felt herself most
lonely and forlorn like Sainte Beuve's--
"Colombe gemissante,
Qui demande par pitie
Sa moitie,
Sa moitie loin d'elle absente!"


CHAPTER XII.
"A wicked will,
A woman's will; a cankered grandame's will!"
_King John_.

"By Jove!"
And Lorimer, after uttering this unmeaning exclamation, was silent out
of sheer dismay. He stood hesitating and looking in at the door of the
Gueldmar's sitting-room, and the alarming spectacle he saw was the
queenly Thelma down on the floor in an attitude of grief,--Thelma giving
way to little smothered sobs of distress,--Thelma actually crying! He
drew a long breath and stared, utterly bewildered.


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