That night she went back to John and Amelia . They , on their part , welcomed her back gladly , believing her to be a wronged and ill-used woman . They hated Stephen Fair with a new and personal rancour . The one thing they could hardly have forgiven Emily would have been the fact of her relenting towards him . But she did not relent . In her soul she knew that , with all her just grievances , she had been in the wrong , and for that she could not forgive him ! Two years after she had left Stephen Mrs. Fair died , and his widowed sister-in-law went to keep house for him . If he thought of Emily he made no sign . Stephen Fair never broke a word once passed . Since their separation no greeting or look had ever passed between husband and wife . When they met , as they occasionally did , neither impassive face changed . Emily Fair had buried her love deeply . In her pride and anger she would not let herself remember even where she had dug its grave . And now Stephen was ill . The strange woman felt a certain pride in her own inflexibility because the fact did not affect her . She told herself that she could not have felt more unconcerned had he been the merest stranger . Nevertheless she waited and watched for John Phillips ' homecoming . At ten o'clock she heard his voice in the kitchen . She leaned out of the bed and pulled open her door . She heard voices below , but could not distinguish the words , so she rose and went noiselessly out into the hall , knelt down by the stair railing and listened .
The door of the kitchen was open XXXXX her and a narrow shaft of light struck on her white , intent face .
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