Stella lifted the hand and kissed it with passionate fondness.
"Don't think me ungrateful," she said; "I am only ashamed." Her head sank on her bosom; she burst into tears.
Lady Loring waited by her in silence.

She well knew the girl's self-contained nature, always shrinking, except in moments of violent emotion, from the outward betrayal of its trials and its sufferings to others.

The true depth of feeling which is marked by this inbred modesty is most frequently found in men.

The few women who possess it are without the communicative consolations of the feminine heart.

They are the noblest---and but too often the unhappiest of their sex.
"Will you wait a little before you go out ?" Stella asked softly.
Lady Loring returned to the chair that she had left--hesitated for a moment--and then drew it nearer to Stella.