"That's just it. Does she know? Isn't she taking a most awful leap in
the dark?" Keen anxiety sounded in Tommy's voice. "It's been such
horribly quick work, you know. Why, she hasn't been out here six weeks.
It's a shame for any girl to marry on such short notice as that. I said
so to her, and she--she laughed and said, 'Oh, that's beggar's choice!
Do you think I could enjoy life with your angels in paradise in
unmarried bliss? I'd sooner stay down in hell with you.' And she'd have
done it too, Monck. And it would probably have killed her. That's partly
how I came to know."

"Haven't the women been decent to her?" Monck's question fell curtly, as
if the subject were one which he was reluctant to discuss.

Tommy looked at him through the starlight. "You know what they are," he
said bluntly. "They'd hunt anybody if once Lady Harriet gave tongue. She
chose to eye Stella askance from the very outset, and of course all the
rest followed suit. Mrs. Ralston is the only one in the whole crowd who
has ever treated her decently, but of course she's nobody. Everyone sits
on her. As if," he spoke with heat, "Stella weren't as good as the best
of 'em--and better! What right have they to treat her like a social
outcast just because she came out here to me on her own? It's hateful!
It's iniquitous! What else could she have done?"

"It seems reasonable--from a man's point of view," said Monck.

"It was reasonable. It was the only thing possible. And just for that
they chose to turn the cold shoulder on her,--to ostracize her
practically. What had she done to them? What right had they to treat her
like that?" Fierce resentment sounded in Tommy's voice.