panionship.

As they approached the piazza, they saw that Arnault was still Miss
Wildmere's devoted attendant. His presence meant hope for Madge, and
Graydon was slightly surprised at his own indifference. He felt that
the girl to whom he regarded himself as bound belonged to a different
world, a lower plane of life than that of which he had been given a
glimpse. The best elements of his nature had been profoundly moved,
and brought to the surface, and he found them alien to the pair on
the piazza. He was even self-reproachful that he saw with so little
resentment Stella's present companionship.

"While I don't like her course at all," he thought, "I must believe
that she is acting from the most self-sacrificing motives. What
troubles me most now is that I have a growing sense of the narrowness
of her nature."

He had never come from her presence with his manhood aroused to its
depths. It was her beauty that he dwelt upon; her piquant, alluring
tones and gestures. Madge was not an ill-natured critic of the girl
who threatened to destroy her future, but, by being simply what she
was, she made the other shrink and grow common by contrast.

To Graydon such comparisons were odious indeed, and he would not
willingly permit them; but, in conformity to mental laws and the force
of circumstances, they would present themselves. Each day had found
him in the society of the two girls, and even an hour like one of
those just passed compelled him to feel the superiority of Madge. His
best hope already for Stella was that she would change when surrounded
by better influences--that her faultless taste in externals would
eventually create repugnance to modes of thought and action unsuitable
in a higher plane of life. He did not question his love for her,
but he felt this morning that it was a love which was becoming
disenchanted early, and into which the elements of patience and
tolerance might have to enter largely. Should he marry her to-day he
could not, as Madge had said, and with the first glow of affection,
believe her perfect. He even sighed as he thought of the future.

His heart was very tender toward Madge, but it was with an affection
that seemed to him partly fraternal, and partly a regard for one
different, better, purer than himself. He proved the essential
fineness, the capabilities of his nature, by his appreciation of some
of her higher traits. Her ministry to the dying girl had given her
a sacredness in his eyes