have seen; a very rare specimen."

Ryland said: "She is quite a study; the more you see of her, the more
interesting she grows."

After Stella had been at her aunt's about a month she was seen less in
her aunt's company riding out, but more in the company of the most
stylish men in the city. Her aunt encouraged her in going out with these
young gentlemen. She talked very much to her about how rich young
Ryland's father, the banker, was; and she expected Barker to become one
of the most brilliant lights at the bar. To-day he was worth twenty-five
thousand dollars in his own name. Then there was young Westbrooke, son
of the leading merchant in Roseland, the only son. He was home from
college, with bright prospects. There was young Brookes, who owned fifty
thousand dollars in real estate, and had traveled in Europe and seen
lots of the world. He was a very great catch, her aunt said. These four
young men, who always dressed with great taste, were Mrs. Marston's
favorite pets. For a while Stella favored each one of these young men
with her company, in buggy riding, but towards the end of the second
month Westbrooke was the only one with whom she was seen riding.

She never took her aunt into her confidence by relating her experience
in going out with these various young gentlemen. She thought it policy
not to; but to be pleasant to each one of them, even if she had decided
not to keep company with some of them. She remembered she was her aunt's
guest, and should make herself agreeable to her aunt and her aunt's
friends. What she did not relate to her aunt she did to her mother, when
she returned home from her visit the week after the second month of her
stay in Roseland. In conversation with her mother, Stella said, "I am
really glad I went to Aunt Helen's, for I have lived in two months a
year of my life. I have seen so much of a world concerning which I
previously knew nothing only by hearsay. I feel it has done me good in
many ways. Aunt was kind to me, and made everything very pleasant, and
so did her friends. I do say I am glad that I have lived in her world
and tasted of its pleasures, because I don't go now on what I hear about
that world. I know from my own personal experience. It has given me much
to think about, and furnished a great deal of mental food for the study
of character, and I have learned more about my own self. I know better
now than I ever did before my strong points and weak ones." She told her
mo