She followed the widow into the little room.

The boy was sitting on his bed.  He laid down his flageolet and bowed to Stella.  His long silky hair flowed to his shoulders.  But one betrayal of a deranged mind presented itself in his delicate face—­his large soft eyes had the glassy, vacant look which it is impossible to mistake.  “Do you like music, mademoiselle?” he asked, gently.  Stella asked him to play his little vaudeville air again.  He proudly complied with the request.  His sister seemed to resent the presence of a stranger.  “The work is at a standstill,” she said—­and passed into the front room.  Her mother followed her as far as the door, to give her some necessary directions.  Stella seized her opportunity.  She put the bank-notes into the pocket of the boy’s jacket, and whispered to him:  “Give them to your mother when I have gone away.”  Under those circumstances, she felt sure that Madame Marillac would yield to the temptation.  She could resist much—­but she could not resist her son.

The boy nodded, to show that he understood her.  The moment after he laid down his flageolet with an expression of surprise.

“You are trembling!” he said.  “Are you frightened?”

She was frightened.  The mere sense of touching him had made her shudder.  Did she feel a vague presentiment of some evil to come from that momentary association with him?

Madame Marillac, turning away again from her daughter, noticed Stella’s agitation.  “Surely, my poor boy doesn’t alarm you?” she said.  Before Stella could answer, some one outside knocked at the door.  Lady Loring’s servant appeared, charged with a carefully-worded message.  “If you please, miss, a friend is waiting for you below.”  Any excuse for departure was welcome to Stella at that moment.  She promised to call at the house again in a few days.  Madame Marillac kissed her on the forehead as she took leave.  Her nerves were still shaken by that momentary contact with the boy.  Descending the stairs, she trembled so that she was obliged to hold by the servant’s arm.  She was not naturally timid.  What did it mean?

Lady Loring’s carriage was waiting at the entrance of the street, with all the children in the neighborhood assembled to admire it.  She impulsively forestalled the servant in opening the carriage door.  “Come in!” she cried.  “Oh, Stella, you don’t know how you have frightened me!  Good heavens, you look frightened yourself!  From what wretches have I rescued you?  Take my smelling bottle, and tell me all about it.”

The fresh air, and the reassuring presence of her old friend, revived Stella.  She was able to describe her interview with the General’s family, and to answer the inevitable inquiries which the narrative called forth.  Lady Loring’s last question was the most important of the series:  “What are you going to do about Romayne?”

“I am going to write to him the moment we get home.”