I settled it with myself, once for all.

Since then, I have never cared what people said about me." "That's admirable!" murmured Dyce.
"I am sure," went on the girl, with a grave archness, "that you too have known such an experience." "To tell the truth, I have," the philosopher admitted, bending his head a little.
"I felt certain that you could understand me, or I should never have ventured to tell you such a thing .-- There is Miss Bride!" Constance had taken a seat not far from them, and the man who had been talking with her upstairs was offering her refreshments.

Presently, she caught Miss Tomalin's eye, and smiled; a minute or two after, she and her companion came forward to join the other pair, and all re-ascended to the drawing-rooms together.

When he had restored his charge to her chaperon, Lashmar took the hint of discretion and retired into the throng.

There amid, he encountered Iris Woolstan, her eyes wide in search.
"So you _are_ here!" she exclaimed, with immediate change of countenance.