And it has been so with me.

My rose of love was slow in growing, but it blossoms now, and I am training it over all the blank spaces.

And it grew out of a barren soil, dear, out of a barren soil." Stella's arms were close about her as she finished.

"Oh, thank you," she whispered tremulously, "thank you for telling me that." But though she was deeply stirred, no further confidence could she bring herself to utter.

She had found a friend--a close, staunch friend who would never fail her; but not even to her could she show the blackness of the gulf into which she had been hurled.