This assertion of patience seemed to
irritate [Lady Loring. “What is the
matter with you this morning?” she
asked. “ You are more reserved than
ever.”
“ No; lam only out of spirits, Ade
laide. 1 can’t help thinking of that
meeting with Wintorfleid. I fool as if
some misfortune was hanging over my
head.”
“Don’t speak of that hateful man!"
her ladyship exclaimed. “ I have some
thing to tell you about Romayne. Are
you completely absorbed in your pre
sentiments of evil, or do you think you
can listen to me ?”
Stella’s face answered her. Lady
Loring described , the interview with
Major Hynd in tho minutest detail—
including, by the way of illustration,
the major’s manners and personal ap
pearance. “He and Lord Loriqg,” she
added, “both think that Romayne will
never hear the last of it, if he allows
these foreigners to look to him for
money. Until something more is known
about them, the letter is not to be
forwarded.”
“I wish I had the latterr cried
Stella.
“Would you send it to tho bankers?"
“ Instantly! Does it matter whether
these poor French people are worthy ol
Romayne’s generosity? If it restores
his tranquillity to help them, who cares
whether they deserve the help? They
are not even to know who it is that
assists them —Romayne is to be theii
unknown friend. It is he, not they,
whom we have to think of—his peace
of mind is everything; their merit is
nothing. I say it's cruel to him to keep
him in ignorance of what lias happened.
