She was now the calmest of the two. The elder woman turned a little
pale, and looked down in silent anxiety at the darkly beautiful head
that rested on her shoulder.

"After such an experience as mine has been," said Stella, "would you
think it possible that I could ever again feel my heart troubled by a
man--and that man a stranger?"

"My dear! I think it quite possible. You are only now in your
twenty-third year. You were innocent of all blame at that wretched
by-gone time which you ought never to speak of again. Love and be happy,
Stella--if you can only find the man who is worthy of you. But you
frighten me when you speak of a stranger. Where did you meet with him?"

"On our way back from Paris."

"Traveling in the same carriage with you?"

"No--it was in crossing the Channel. There were few travelers in the
steamboat, or I might never have noticed him."

"Did he speak to you?"

"I don't think he even looked at me."

"That doesn't say much for his taste, Stella."

"You don't understand. I mean, I have not explained myself properly.
He was leaning on the arm of a friend; weak and worn and wasted, as