"Have you consented?"
"No. And I don't intend to consent."
"But why not? He is very nice; very; and the advantages are very great. Tell me why you will not, Adela—dear Adela?"
Adela turned her head away. "I do not care to marry yet; him, or any other man."
A light—or rather a doubt—seemed to break upon Lady Grace. "Adela," she whispered, "it is not possible you are still thinking of Captain Stanley?"
"Where would be the use of that?" was the answer. "He is fighting in India, and I am here: little chance of our paths in life ever again crossing each other."
"If I really thought your head was still running upon Stanley, I would tell you——"
"What?" for Grace had stopped.
"The truth," was the reply, in a low voice. "News of him reached England by the last mail."
"What news?"