Such action on the part of the surgeon's very ordinary wife would make no difference to any one.

She was glad to think that all the other ladies were too well-bred to accept without reservation so unconventional a type.
The fact that she was Tommy's sister was the only consideration in her favour.

Tommy was quite a nice boy, and they could not for his sake entirely exclude her from the regimental society, but to no intimate gathering was she ever invited, nor from the female portion of the community was there any welcome for her at the Club.
The attitude of the officers of the regiment was of a totally different nature.

They had accepted her with enthusiasm, possibly all the more marked on account of the aloofness of their women folk, and in a very short time they were paying her homage as one man.

The subalterns who had shared their quarters with Tommy turned out to make room for her, treating her like a queen suddenly come into her own, and like a queen she entered into possession, accepting all courtesy just as she ignored all slights with a delicate self-possession that yet knew how to be gracious when occasion demanded.
Mrs.Ralston would have offered her harbourage had she desired it, but there was pride in Stella--a pride that surged and rebelled very far below her serenity.