I met him in Piccadilly outside Jerningham's"-- she mentioned the great outfitters and provision merchants--"he told me that he had run across you in the Sudan.

What made you say that you hadn't ?" Hillyard was taken at a loss.
"Well ?" she insisted.
Hillyard could see no escape except by the way of absolute frankness.
"Because I gave him your message, Mrs.Croyle," he replied slowly, "and I judged that he was not going to answer it." Stella Croyle was inclined to think that the world was banded against her, to deceive her and to do her harm.

They had all been engaged, Hardiman and the rest of them, in keeping Harry Luttrell away from her: in defending him, whether he wished it or not, from the wiles of the enchantress.

Stella Croyle was quick enough in the up-take where her wounded heart was not concerned, but she was never very clear in any judgment which affected Harry Luttrell.

Passion and disappointment and hope drew veils between the truth and her, and she dived below the plain reason to this or that far-fetched notion for the springs of his conduct.