No one seeing her two or three times could have given any very accurate description of her.

Lady Harriet had more than once described her as a negligible quantity.

But Lady Harriet systematically neglected everyone who had no pretensions to smartness.

She detested all dowdy women.
But Stella still remembered with gratitude the warmth of affectionate admiration and sympathy that had melted her coldness on her wedding-day, and something within her, notwithstanding her utter weariness, longed to feel that warmth again.

Though she scarcely realized it, she wanted the clasp of motherly arms, shielding her from the tempest of life.
Tommy, who had met her at Rawal Pindi on the dreadful return journey, had watched over her and cared for her comfort with the utmost tenderness; but Tommy, like Peter, was somehow outside her confidence.
He was just a blundering male with the best intentions.