In but a half-conscious way, in words that came so shrinkingly through the darkness that they hardly reached the ear bent low to catch them, came Stephen’s murmured thought:

‘Oh, if he only knew! And I can’t tell him; I can’t! dare not! I must not. How could I dishonour him by bearing myself towards him as to that other � worthless � ! Oh! the happy, happy girls, who have mothers � !’ All the muscles of her body seemed to shrink and collapse, till she was like an inert mass at the Silver Lady’s feet.

But the other understood!

After a long, long pause; when Stephen’s sobbing had died away; when each muscle of her body had become rigid on its return to normal calm; the Silver Lady began to talk of other matters, and conversation became normal. Stephen’s