alice should then have quietly turned around and left , but she didnt want her new friend to have financial worries on top of everything else , so maria obediently signed the card that alice handed her , and blankly acknowledged the instructions given to her , then alice decided that this really was the time for her to leave ; very soon this room was going to be full of grieving relatives , but as she leaned over to give maria a sympathetic hug before departing maria suddenly sprang out of her chair , turned , and savagely grabbed hold of a startled alice , then started sobbing uncontrollably into her shoulder .