But he will soon get over that." She looked up at him suddenly.

"You will all be rather thankful when I am safely married, Captain Monck," she said.
There was a second or two of silence.

Monck's eyes looked straight back into hers while it lasted, but they held no warmth, scarcely even interest.
"I really don't know why you should say that, Miss Denvers," he said stiffly at length.
Stella's gloved hands clasped each other.

She was breathing somewhat hard, yet her bearing was wholly regal, even disdainful.
"Only because I realize that I have been a great anxiety to all the respectable portion of the community," she made careless reply.

"I think I am right in classing you under that heading, am I not ?" He heard the challenge in her tone, delicately though she presented it, and something in him that was fierce and unrestrained sprang up to meet it.