Cecily did not know what to say . Suddenly Lucy Ellen burst out bitterly . `` I wish I was dead ! '' Then she turned swiftly and ran across the hall to her own room . Cecily gave a little moan of pain . This was her reward for all the love she had lavished on Lucy Ellen . `` Anyway , it is all over , '' she said , looking dourly into the moonlit boughs of the firs ; `` Lucy Ellen 'll get over it . When Cromwell is gone she 'll forget all about him . I 'm not going to fret . She promised , and she wanted the promise first . '' During the next fortnight tragedy held grim sway in the little weather-gray house among the firs -- a tragedy tempered with grim comedy for Cecily , who , amid all her agony , could not help being amused at Lucy Ellen 's romantic way of sorrowing . Lucy Ellen did her mornings ' work listlessly and drooped through the afternoons . Cecily would have felt it as a relief if Lucy Ellen had upbraided her , but after her outburst on the night she sent Cromwell away , Lucy Ellen never uttered a word of reproach or complaint . One evening Cecily made a neighborly call in the village . Cromwell Biron happened to be there and gallantly insisted upon seeing her home . She understood from Cromwell 's unaltered manner that Lucy Ellen had not told him why she had refused him . She felt a sudden admiration for her cousin . When they reached the house Cromwell halted suddenly in the banner of light that streamed from the sitting-room window . They saw Lucy Ellen sitting alone before the fire , her arms folded on the table , and her head bowed on them . Her white cat sat unnoticed at the table beside her .
Cecily gave a gasp XXXXX surrender .
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