“Ah, Marie, it isn’t always the fairest seeming flower that smells the sweetest, and all that glitters is not gold. There is a canker in my life that poisons it and turns my sweets to gall; and I would rather be the veriest beggar that walks the streets if I had a clear conscience than who I am with all the luxury and wealth at my command.”
Naturally Marie was surprised at this confession, and she asked Stella what she had done that her conscience should smite her; but the young lady hastened to correct the false impression she had made by her remark, and said that her conscience did not prick her for anything she had done herself, but she had to play a double part in order not to betray the secrets of others to whom she owed allegiance and duty.
Marie was unable to extract any further a
