The Sentinels alphonsine

she heard him the second time, and paused to peer at him. deirdre had thought he wished to be left alone, but it seemed she had been wrong. and so she took a tentative step nearer to him, her own resolve and stability a fickle thing. yet her eyes did not yet water, and her breath did not hitch. the pain she felt was acute, but she was a well that had dried, she imagined. there was nothing left in her to weep with. she was exhausted, so exhausted. and so she looked to renoir, wearied and in misery herself.