WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 2

TXGX 6101 LINGUISTIC THEORY

PREPARED BY:
NASIHA BINTI NASRUDIN
FATIN FARHANA BT HAMAM
PREPARED FOR:
DR. SRIDEVI SRINIWASS
NOVEMBER 16, 2014

TGC 140004
TGB 140028

TOPIC: LINGUISTIC FORMS AND SYNTACTIC FUNCTIONS

Introduction

Functional grammar has various features which make it suitable for examining language
variation. Functional grammar looks at the way in which grammar is used to construct texts in
their context of use. Its application is not confined to the analysis of isolated sentences as it
explains the way in which sentences are organised to construct whole texts such as stories and
essays. Overall, functional grammar is concerned with the way that the different kinds of
meaning that contribute to grammatical structure are comprehensively addressed. In order to
model grammar as meaning-making resource, functional grammar looks closely at the different
contributions made by clauses, phrases and groups and word structure to a text. Functional
grammar allows linguists to analyse, compare, and parse the linguistic uses of all human
languages.
For the purpose of this task, we have chosen The Story of An Hour by Kate Chopin. The
Story of an Hour represents a negative view of marriage by presenting the reader with a woman
who is clearly overjoyed that her husband has died. This is expressed through the language that
Kate Chopin used to describe Louises emotions as she sways between deadness and extreme joy
at her newfound freedom. Moreover, the story covers only one hour in Louise Mallards life,
from the minute she learns of her husbands death to the moment he unexpectedly returns alive.
Despite the fact that The Story of an Hour is really short, it is exceptionally rich and
complete. Every word and expression in it carries deep sense and a lot of meaning. Below are the
structural analyses of the story based on the several syntactic concepts.

a) Structural analysis of the text based on the following basic syntactic concepts:

Clefting
A construction in which some element in a sentence is moved from its normal position
into a separate clause to give it greater emphasis. The two major types of cleft
constructions in English are:
it-clefts:

wh-clefts:

An it-cleft begins with non-referential it (the "cleft pronoun"), which is

typically followed by a copula (i.e., a form of the verb be), a noun phrase,
and a relative clause.
A subordinate clause that is introduced by one of the wh-words (what,
who, which, when, where, why, how). (Nordquist, 2014)

1) It was her sister Josephine who told her (it-cleft)

2) It was he who had been in the newspaper office (it-cleft)
3) It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long (it-cleft)
4) It was Brently Mallard who entered (it-cleft)
5) What did it matter! (wh-cleft)
6) What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of selfassertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being (wh-cleft)

Units and rank of units + Finite and non-finite + Dependent and independent
clauses
Clause

|| |Knowing | that | Mrs. Mallard | was afflicted | with | a heart trouble|

||
|| |great care | was taken |to break | to her | as gently as possible | the
news of her husbands death| ||

Finite\ Dependent\
Non Independent
Finite
NonDependent
finite
Nonfinite

Independent

|| |It | was | her sister Josephine | who | told | her |in broken sentences
veiled hints | that revealed | in half concealing| ||

Finite

Independent

|| |Her husbands friend Richards | was | there, too, near her | ||

Finite

Independent

|| |It | was | he | who | had been | in the newspaper office | ||

Finite

Independent

|| |when | intelligence of the railroad disaster | was received | ||

Finite

Dependent

|| |with Brently Mallards name | leading | the list of killed | ||

Dependent

|| |He | had | only taken | the time | to assure | himself | of | its truth | by
| a second telegram | ||

Nonfinite
Nonfinite

|| |and | had hastened | to forestall | any less careful less tender | friend
| in bearing the sad message | ||

Nonfinite

Dependent

|| |She | did not | hear | the story | ||

Nomfinite
Nonfinite

Independent

|| |She | wept | at once | with | sudden wild abandonment | in | her

sisters arms | ||

Finite

Independent

|| |When | the storm | of grief | had spent | itself | ||

Finite

Dependent

|| |she | went away | to her room | alone | ||

Finite

Independent

|| |She | would have | no one | follow | her | ||

Independent

|| |There | stood facing | the open window | a comfortable roomy |

armchair | ||

Nonfinite
Nonfinite

|| |Into | this | she | sank | ||

Finite

Independent

|| |pressed down | by | a physical exhaustion | that haunted | her body |

||

Finite

Dependent

|| |and | seemed | to reach | into her soul | ||

Non-

Dependent

|| |as many | women | have heard | the same | with | a paralyzed

inability | to accept | its significance | ||

Independent

Dependent

Independent

|| |the tops of trees | that were | all aquiver | with the new spring life | ||

finite
Nonfinite
Finite

|| |The delicious breath of rain | was | in the air | ||

Finite

Independent

|| |In the street below | a peddler | was crying | his wares | ||

Nonfinite
Finite

Independent

Independent

|| |There | were | patches of blue sky showing here and there | through
the clouds | ||

Nonfinite
Nonfinite

|| |that had met and piled | one above the other | in the west facing |
her window | ||

Nonfinite

Dependent

|| |She | sat | with her head thrown back | upon the cushion of the chair
| quite motionless | ||

Finite

Independent

|| |except when | a sob | came up | into her throat | ||

Finite

Dependent

|| |and | shook | her | ||

Finite

Dependent

|| |as a child who has cried itself to sleep | continues | to sob | in its
dreams | ||

Nonfinite

Dependent

|| |She | was | young | with a fair calm face whose lines bespoke
repression and even a certain strength | ||

Finite

Independent

|| |But now | there | was | a dull stare in her eyes | ||

Finite

Independent

|| |whose gaze | was fixed away | off yonder | on one of those patches
of blue sky | ||

Finite

Dependent

|| |It | was not | a glance of reflection | ||

Finite

Independent

|| |She | could see | in the open square | before | her house | ||

|| |The notes of a distant song which some one | was singing | reached
| her | faintly | ||
|| |and | countless sparrows | were twittering | in the eaves | ||

Independent
Independent

Independent

Independent

|| |but rather | indicated | a suspension of intelligent thought | ||

Finite

Dependent

|| |There | was something coming | to her | ||

Nonfinite
Nonfinite
Finite

Independent

Independent

|| |it | was | too subtle and elusive | to name | ||

Nonfinite
Finite

|| |But | she | felt | it | creeping out of the sky ||

Finite

Independent

|| |reaching toward | her | through the sounds, the scents, the color that
filled the air | ||

Nonfinite

Dependent

|| |Now | her bosom | rose and fell | tumultuously | ||

Finite

Independent

|| |She | was beginning to recognize | this thing | ||

Independent

|| |as powerless as | her two white slender hands | would have been | ||

Nonfinite
Nonfinite
Nonfinite
Finite

|| |When | she | abandoned | herself | ||

Finite

Dependent

|| |a little whispered word | escaped | her slightly parted lips | ||

Finite

Independent

|| |She | said | it | over and over | under her breath | ||

Finite

Independent

|| |The vacant stare and the look of terror | that | had followed | it |
went | from her eyes | ||

Finite

Independent

|| |They | stayed | keen and bright | ||

Finite

Independent

|| |Her pulses | beat | fast | ||

Nonfinite

Independent

|| |and | she | was waiting | for it | fearfully | ||

|| |What | was | it | ||
|| |She | did not know | ||

|| |that | was approaching to possess | her | ||

|| |and | she | was striving to beat | it back | with her will | ||

Independent
Independent

Independent

Dependent
Independent
Dependent

|| |and | the coursing blood | warmed and relaxed | every inch of her
body | ||

Finite

Independent

|| |She | did not stop | to ask | ||

Independent

|| | if it were | or were not | a monstrous joy | that | held her | ||

Nonfinite
Finite

|| | A clear | and | exalted perception | enabled | her | to dismiss | the

suggestion as trivial | ||
|| |She| knew | ||

Nonfinite
Finite

Independent

|| | that | she | would | weep | again | ||

Finite

Dependent

|| | when | she | saw the kind, tender hands | folded in death | ||

Finite

Dependent

|| | the face | that | had never looked save | with love | upon her | fixed
gray and dead | ||
|| | But | she | saw | beyond that bitter moment | a long procession of
years | to come | ||
|| |that | would belong | to her | absolutely | ||

Finite

Independent

Finite

Dependent

Finite

Dependent

|| | And | she | opened | and spread | her arms out | to them | in

welcome | ||
|| | There | would be | no one | to live | ||

Finite

Independent

Finite

Independent

|| | she | would live | for | herself | ||

Finite

Independent

|| | There | would be | no powerful | will bending hers | in that blind

persistence | ||
|| | with | which men and women | believe | they have a right | to
impose | a private will | upon a fellow creature | ||
|| | A kind intention | or cruel intention | made the act | seem no less
crime | ||
|| | as | she | looked upon it | in that brief moment | of illumination | ||

Nonfinite
Nonfinite
Finite

Independent

Finite

Dependent

|| | And | yet | she | had loved him | sometimes | ||

Finite

Independent

|| | Often | she | had not | ||

Finite

Independent

|| |What | did | it matter | ||

Finite

Independent

Dependent
Independent

Dependent
Independent

|| | What | could love | the unsolved mystery | count for | in the face |
of this possession | of self-assertion | ||
|| | which | she | suddenly recognized | |||| | as | the strongest impulse |
of her being | ||
|| | Free | Body and soul free | ||
|| | she | kept whispering | ||
|| | Josephine | was kneeling | before the closed door | with her lips | to
the keyhole | ||
|| | imploring | for admission | ||
|| | Louise | open the door | ||
|| | I | beg | ||
|| | open | the door | ||
|| | you | will make | yourself ill | ||
|| | What | are | you doing | Louise? | ||
|| | For heavens sake | open | the door | ||
|| | Go away | ||
|| | I | am | not making | myself ill | ||
|| | No | she | was drinking | in a very elixir of life | through | that open
window | ||
|| | Her | fancy | was running riot | along | those days | ahead of her | ||
|| | Spring days | and summer days | and all sorts of days | that would
be her own | ||
|| | She | breathed | a quick prayer | that | life | might be long | ||
|| | It | was only yesterday | she had thought | with a shudder | that life |
might | be long | ||
|| | She | arose | at length | ||

Nonfinite
Finite

Independent

Nonfinite
Nonfinite
Nonfinite
Nonfinite
Nonfinite
Nonfinite
Nonfinite
Finite

Independent

Nonfinite
Nonfinite
Nonfinite
Nonfinite
Nonfinite
Nonfinite
Finite

Independent

Finite

Independent

Finite

Independent

Finite

Independent

Dependent

Independent
Independent
Dependent
Independent
Independent
Dependent
Independent

Independent
Independent
Independent
Independent
Independent
Independent

|| | and opened | the door | to her sisters importunities | ||

Finite

Dependent

|| | There | was | a feverish triumph | in her eyes | ||

Independent

|| | and | she | carried | herself unwittingly | like a goddess of Victory |

||
|| | She | clasped | her sisters waist | ||

Nonfinite
Nonfinite
Finite

|| | and | together | they descended | the stairs | ||

Finite

Dependent

|| | Richards | stood waiting | for them | at the bottom | ||

Independent

|| | It | was | Brently Mallard | who entered | ||

Nonfinite
Nonfinite
Finite

|| | a little travel stained | composedly carrying | his grip sack | and

umbrella | ||
|| |He | had been | far | from the scene | of the accident | ||

Nonfinite
Finite

Dependent
Independent

|| | He | stood amazed | at Josephines piercing cry | ||

Finite

Independent

|| | at | Richards quick motion | to screen him | from the view | of his

wife | ||
|| | When | the doctors | came | ||

Nonfinite
Finite

Dependent

|| | they | said | she | had died | of heart disease | of the joy that kills | ||

Finite

Independent

|| | Someone | was opening | the front door | with a latchkey | ||

Dependent
Independent

Independent
Independent

Dependent

Finite dependent clause - Circumstantial Clause

Describes manner, circumstances, or conditions under which main clause occurs. (Jones,
2013)
8

1) It was he who had been in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster
was received
2) When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone.
3) When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips
4) She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her.
5) When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease.

Finite dependent clause - Relative Clause

A clause that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase and is introduced by a relative
pronoun (which, that, who, whom, whose), a relative adverb (where, when, why), or a zero
relative. (Nordquist, 2014)

1) Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble,

2) It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in
half concealing.
3) pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body
4) Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own.
5) There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men
and women believe they have a right to impose
7) What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of selfassertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being

Finite dependent clause - Nominal Clauses

A nominal clause is a subordinate clause that functions as a noun phrase. (Loos,
Anderson, Day, Jr. , C. Jordan, & Wingate, 2004)

1) the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life

2) There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met
and piled one above the other in the west facing her window.
3) The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes.
4) She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her
5) She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind.
6) But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come.

Finite dependent clause - Comparative Clauses

A type of subordinate clause that follows the comparative form of an adjective or adverb
and begins with as, than, or like. (Nordquist, 2014)

1) A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked
upon it in that brief moment of illumination.
2) There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a
goddess of Victory.

Finite embedded clauses

One clause may be embedded within another, that is, it may be used as a constituent part
of another clause. Such a clause is called an embedded clause (or a subordinate clause)
(Nordquist, 2014)

1) Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble (clause as O)
2) She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same (clause as A)
3) When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. (clause as A)
4) The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. (clause as
S)
5) She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death
6) A long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely.
7) She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long.

10

Supplementive units
Supplementive units add supplementary information. They are subordinate but not
embedded. Supplementive units set off the main clause by commas, or by a dash
(Downing & Locke, 2006)

1) It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in
half concealing.
2) She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sisters arms.
3) There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair.
4) She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except
when a sob came up into her throat and shook her,
5) She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain
strength.
6) And yet she had loved him sometimes.
7) What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of selfassertion
8) When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease of the joy that kills.

Verbless Clause
The verbless clause is a structure containing no verb at all, (either finite or non-finite),
usually having a covert subject, but containing other expressions which can be identified
as a part of predicate (subject compliment or adverbial) (Petrlikova, 2013).

1) A comfortable, roomy armchair ( There is a comfortable, roomy armchair)

2) Free! ( I am free! )
3) Body and soul free! ( My body and soul are free! )

11

Clauses with ellipted elements

Ellipted clauses refer to the omission from a clause of one or more words that are
understood in the context of remaining elements. (Kroeger, 2004)

1) She said it over and over under her breath: free, free, free! (I am ellipted)
2) There stood, facing the window ( she ellipted)
4) Often she had not ( love him ellipted)
5) What did it matter! ( to me ellipted)

Negation
Negation is a morphosyntactic operation in which a lexical item denies or inverts the
meaning of another lexical item or construction. (Loos, Anderson, Day, Jr. , C. Jordan, &
Wingate, 2004)

1) She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same (Clausal Negation)
2) She would have no one follow her. (no-negation)
3) It was not a glance of reflection, (Clausal Negation)
4) She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. (Clausal Negation)
5) She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her. ( Clausal
Negation)
6) The face that had never looked save with love upon her (no-negation)
7) There would be no one to live for during those coming years (no-negation)
8) There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence (no-negation)
9) A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime (no-negation)
10) I am not making myself ill. (Clausal Negation)
11) And did not even know there had been one. (Clausal Negation)

12

Examples of how linguistic units are expanded - Coordination

1) There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. (modifier in an
AdjG)
2) She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain
strength. (modifier in a NG)
3) She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in
death.
4) The face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead.
5) Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days would be her own.

Examples of how linguistic units are expanded Embedding

1) Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble (clause as O)
2) She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same (clause as A)
3) When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. (clause as A)
4) The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. (clause
as S)
5) The face that had never looked save with love upon her.
6) A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked
upon it in that brief moment of illumination.
7) It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.

13

b) Are there any structures problematic to analyze? Provide reason/s.

This text consists of long sentences which is quite confusing when breaking it down into the
respective units and rank of units. The long sentences or clauses is the main reason in the arising
problem in analyzing most of the types of clauses. Though some such as supplemetive units and
negation are quite easy to analyze, clauses like verbless and abbreviated ones are harder in this
text. The cause of this is because verbless and abbreviated clauses are those clauses that have
certain ellipted elements which is quite hard to detect. They also usually show up in fictional
dialogue and this text does not have much of that.

c) How is the content organized in the text in relation to the above structural choices
and what motivates the choices?

The motivation for this and other variants is not to be sought in the clause in isolation, but in
its relationship to that part of the discourse at which it is located (Downing & Locke, 2006).
In order to portray the characters and describe the setting vividly, the author used various
expressive means and syntactic structures. In terms of the contextual type, the text is written
mostly as narration with the elements of description She was young, with a fair, calm face,
whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength which give direct description to the
character.
Elliptical sentences are intensely found in the dialogues. For examples, Free! Body and soul
free! and "Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door--you will make yourself ill. What are you
doing, Louise? For heaven's sake open the door." "Go away. I am not making myself ill." The
author also uses repetition to highlight important points. For example, She breathed a quick
prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday that she had thought with a shudder that life
might be long. All of Chopins structural techniques make this short story effective.

14

Conclusion

Modern linguistics owes its existence to a consistent distinction between utterances and
the symbols underlying utterances, thereby assigning an indirect but crucial role to the physical
aspects of human language as evidence for its cognitive architecture (Wiedenhof, 2008).
Language is for communication and thus every speech act takes place in a particular social
context. The speaker organizes the content of the clause in order to achieve the best effect for
their communicative purpose (Downing & Locke, 2006).
By analyzing the complex sentence in terms of its constituents as in independent clauses
and dependent clauses, the place of the dependent clause in a sentence influences the thematic
and information structure of the sentence, relating it to the whole stretch of the text. The presence
of other types of clauses adds up information and description in order to make the text an
interesting one as it is just a short text consisting of only a thousand plus words. Thus the
different types of clause present helps in providing readers a sense of imagination on how the
story is happening.
The supplementive units adds particular description by providing vivid information on a
certain subject and also expanding linguistic units. Apart from that, verbless clauses and ellipted
elements portray natural occurring sentences in spoken language as people rarely use a full
sentence structure found in text books in a normal conversation. All of these interplay of
different type of clauses play crucial roles in any texts and their textual values are relevant to the
appropriate interpretation of the text.

15

Bibliography
Downing, A., & Locke, P. (2006). English Grammar: A University Course. Oxon: Routledge.
Jones, E. (2013, June). Retrieved from Cram Web site: http://www.cram.com/flashcards/circumstantialclauses-2620652
Kroeger, P. R. (2004). Analyzing Syntax: A Lexical-Functional Approach. Cambridge UK: Cambridge
University Press.
Loos, E. E., Anderson, S., Day, Jr. , D., C. Jordan, P., & Wingate, J. (2004, January 5). Glossary of Linguistic
Terms. Retrieved from LinguaLinks: http://www01.sil.org/linguistics/glossaryoflinguisticterms/contents.htm
Nordquist, R. (2014). About Education. Retrieved from About:
http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/cleftterm.htm
Petrlikova, J. (2013). Dependent Verbless Clause: Its Structure, Function and Use. Novitas-ROYAL
(Research on Youth and Language), 55-63.
Wiedenhof, J. (2008). Language, Brains and The Syntactic Revolution. Evidence and Counter-Evidence,
Festschrift Frederik Kortlandt, Volume 2, 415-428.

16

Appendix
Text Used- The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin (1894)
Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as
gently as possible the news of her husband's death.
It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing.
Her husband's friend Richards was there, too, near her. It was he who had been in the newspaper office
when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard's name leading the list of
"killed." He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and had hastened
to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the sad message.
She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its
significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms. When the storm of
grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her.
There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank, pressed down by
a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.
She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new
spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares.
The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were
twittering in the eaves.
There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one
above the other in the west facing her window.
She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob
came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its
dreams.
She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But
now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of
blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought.
There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know;
it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through
the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air.

17

Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was
approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will--as powerless as her two
white slender hands would have been. When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her
slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under hte breath: "free, free, free!" The vacant stare and the
look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast,
and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.
She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and exalted perception
enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial. She knew that she would weep again when she saw the
kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray
and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to
her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome.
There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be
no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a
right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act
seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination.
And yet she had loved him--sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the
unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized
as the strongest impulse of her being!
"Free! Body and soul free!" she kept whispering.
Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhold, imploring for admission.
"Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door--you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For
heaven's sake open the door."
"Go away. I am not making myself ill." No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open
window.
Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of
days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she
had thought with a shudder that life might be long.
She arose at length and opened the door to her sister's importunities. There was a feverish triumph in her
eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory. She clasped her sister's waist, and
together they descended the stairs. Richards stood waiting for them at the bottom.

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Someone was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travelstained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella. He had been far from the scene of the accident,
and did not even know there had been one. He stood amazed at Josephine's piercing cry; at Richards'
quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife.
When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills.

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