rriage. For herself, that chapter in
her life was closed and could never, she now believed, be reopened.
Monck had gone his way, she hers, and they had drifted apart. Only by
the accident of circumstance would they meet again, and she was
determined that when this meeting took place their relations should be
of so impersonal a character that he should find it well-nigh impossible
to recall the fact that any hint of romance had ever hovered even for a
fleeting moment between them. He had his career before him. He followed
the way of ambition, and he should continue to follow it, unhindered by
any thought of her. She was dependent upon no man. She would pick up the
threads of her own life and weave of it something that should be worth
while. With the return of health this resolution was forming within her.
Mrs. Ralston's influence was making itself felt. She believed that the
way would open out before her as she went. She had made one great
mistake. She would never make such another. She would be patient. It
might be in time that to her, even as to her friend, a blossoming might
come out of the barren soil in which her life was cast.

CHAPTER IV

THE SUMMONS

During those months spent at Bhulwana with the surgeon's wife a measure
of peace did gradually return to Stella. She took no part in the
gaieties of the station, but her widow's mourning made it easy for her
to hold aloof. Undoubtedly she earned Lady Harriet's approval by so
doing, but Mrs. Ermsted continued to look at her askance,
notwithstanding the fact that her small daughter had developed a warm
liking for the sister of her beloved Tommy.

"Wait till she gets back to Kurrumpore," said Mrs. Ermsted. "We shall
see her in her true colours then."

She did not say this to Mrs. Ralston. She visited The Grand Stand less
and less frequently. She was always full of engagements and seldom had a
moment to spare for the society of this steady friend of hers. And Mrs.
Ralston never sought her out. It was not her way. She was ready for all,
but she intruded upon none.

Mrs. Ralston's affection for Stella had become very deep. There was
between them a sympathy that was beyond words. They understood each
other.

As the wet season drew on, their companionship became more and more
intimate though their spoken confidences were few. Mrs. Ralston never
asked for confidences though she probably received more than any other
woman in the station.

It was on a day in