again, and a figure of dignified displeasure sailed into the room.

"Are you ill, my dear?" Mrs. Ebley asked, in a stern voice. "It is
otherwise very strange that you should not be dressed at this
hour--it is a quarter to ten o'clock."

"No, I am not exactly ill, Aunt Caroline," Stella answered gently,
"but I was very tired, and as I was making up my mind what I
should say in my letter to Eustace to break off my engagement--I
preferred not to come down until I had done so."

The Aunt Caroline could not believe her ears. She was obliged to
sit down. Her emotion made her knees tremble. It was true then--
something had been going on under her very eyes and she had not
perceived it--the deceit and perfidy of human nature had always
been a shock to her--

"You wish to break your engagement, Stella," she said, as soon as
she could steady her voice. "But you cannot possibly do so
scandalous a thing--and for what reason, pray?"

"I find I do not love Eustace," Stella answered calmly, although
her heart now began to beat rapidly. "I know I never have loved
him; it was only because I thought it would please you and Uncle
Erasmus that I ever became engaged to him, and now that I know
what love is--I mean now that the time is getting nearer, I feel
that I cannot go through with it."

"There is something underneath all this, Stella," Mrs. Ebley said
icily. "You cannot deceive me. You have been led astray, girl--it