ted
acquiescence in the worst that could be said about him.

"Tell me," whispered Stella. "Ah, do."

"I've found out that Lily is quite ready to flirt with anybody. With
anybody!"

"What a beastly girl!" Stella flamed.

"Well, you can't expect her to remain true to a creature like me," said
Michael, declaring his self-abasement.

"A creature like you?" cried Stella. "Why, Michael, how can you be so
absurd? If you speak of yourself like that, I shall begin to think you
_are_ 'a creature' as you call yourself. Ah, no, but you're not,
Michael. It's this Lily who is the creature. Oh, don't I know her, the
insipid puss! A silly little doll that lets everybody pull her about. I
hate weak girls. How I despise them!"

"But you despise boys, Stella," Michael reminded her. "And this chap
she was flirting with was much older than me. Perhaps Lily is like you,
and prefers older men."

Michael had no heart left even to maintain his stand against Stella's
alarming opinions and prejudices so frankly expressed.

"Like me," Stella cried, stamping her foot. "Like me! How dare you
compare her with me? I'm not a doll. Do you think anyone has ever dared
to kiss me?"

"I'm sorry," said Michael. "But you talk so very daringly that I
shouldn't be surprized by anything you told me. At the same time I can't
help sympathizing with Lily. It must have been dull to be in love with a
schoolboy--an awkward lout of eighteen."

"Michael! I will not hear you speak of yourself like that. I'm ashamed
of you. How can you be so weak? Be proud. Oh, Michael, do be proud--it's
the only thing on earth worth being."

Stella stood dominant before him. Her grey eyes flashed; her proud,
upcurving mouth was slightly curled: her chin was like the chin of a
marble goddess, and yet with that brown hair lapping her wide shoulders,
with those long legs, lean-flanked and supple, she was more like some
heroic boy.

"Yes, you can be proud enough," said Michael. "But you've got something
to be proud of. What have I got?"

"You've got me," said Stella fiercely.

"Why, yes, I suppose I have," Michael softly agreed. "Let's talk about
your first appearance."

"I was talking about it to mother when a man called Prescott came."

"Prescott?" said Michael. "I seem to have heard mother speak about him.
I wonder when it was. A long time ago, though."

"Well, whoever he was," said Stella, "he brought mother bad news."

"How do you know?"

"Have you ever seen mo