midnight before
She became uneasy about herself . Once more , this time in serious sincerity , she felt the need of a stronger personality upholding and pervading her own . Absolute dependence on somebody else 's character had become a habit of her nature : she could no more live now without some burning stimulus to thought and feeling than the drunkard can satisfy his thirst with plain water . Naturally she thought of Mr. Flaxman Reed , as Katherine had thought of him the midnight before Vincent 's death , or as she had thought of him herself in the day of her temptation . This time she had ended by going to him , as many a woman had gone before , with her empty life in her hands , begging that it might be filled . For all cases of the kind Mr. Flaxman Reed had one remedy -- work in the parish of St. Teresa 's ; as a rule it either killed or cured them . But he had spared Audrey hitherto , as he would have spared some sick child a medicine too strong and bitter for it .