The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Breaking Point by Mary Roberts Rinehart: was never known to depart farther from his comfortable hearth than
the railway station in one direction and the Sayre house in the
other, had made a trip East and was now in the far West. Doctor
Reynolds, who might or might not know something, had joined the
country club and sent for his golf bag.
And Elizabeth Wheeler was going around with a drawn white face and
a determined smile that faded the moment one looked away.
The village was hurt and suspicious. It resented its lack of
knowledge, and turned cynical where, had it been taken into
confidence, it would have been solicitous. It believed that
Elizabeth had been jilted, for it knew, via Annie and the
The Breaking Point |