would have dreamed of taking such an extraordinary step, and she had not
the smallest intention of offering her the chaperonage that she so
conspicuously lacked. If Mrs. Ralston chose to do so, that was her own
affair. Such action on the part of the surgeon's very ordinary wife
would make no difference to any one. She was glad to think that all the
other ladies were too well-bred to accept without reservation so
unconventional a type.

The fact that she was Tommy's sister was the only consideration in her
favour. Tommy was quite a nice boy, and they could not for his sake
entirely exclude her from the regimental society, but to no intimate
gathering was she ever invited, nor from the female portion of the
community was there any welcome for her at the Club.

The attitude of the officers of the regiment was of a totally different
nature. They had accepted her with enthusiasm, possibly all the more
marked on account of the aloofness of their women folk, and in a very
short time they were paying her homage as one man. The subalterns who
had shared their quarters with Tommy turned out to make room for her,
treating her like a queen suddenly come into her own, and like a queen
she entered into possession, accepting all courtesy just as she ignored
all slights with a delicate self-possession that yet knew how to be
gracious when occasion demanded.

Mrs. Ralston would have offered her harbourage had she desired it, but
there was pride in Stella--a pride that surged and rebelled very far
below her serenity. She received favours from none.

And so, unshackled and unchaperoned, she had gone her way among her
critics, and no one--not even Tommy--suspected how deep was the wound