Stella's Story. A Venetian tale ... With eight illustrations by Paul Woodroffe

Front matter

STELLA'S STORY Suitable for Presentation and School Prizes. Imperial l6»io, cloth gilt, 3s. del. each. With 8 full-page Illustrations. WITH WELLINGTON IN THE BATTLE SMOKE. By W. PlMBLETT. IN AFRICA WITH THE UNION JACK. By W. Pimblett. WARRIORS OF BRITAIN. By Waltee Richakds. ENGLAND'S SEA VICTORIES. By Lieut. Chables Rath-bone Low (late Indian Navy). HOW THE BRITISH WON INDIA. By W. Pimblett. SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MEN. Short Accounts of the Rise of Famous Firms, with Sketches of the Founders. By A. H. Japp, LL.D. HEROES OF OUR DAY. An Account of Recent Winners of the Victoria Cross. By Waltee Richaeds. NEW DAME TROT (A). By C. A. Jones. New Edition. London : J. S. VIRTUE & Co., Ltd., 2G, Ivy Lank, Paternostbb Row, E.C. " He will never know me with my hair powdered, and I'll put a patch over that little mole on my cheek, which I believe is the dis tinguishing mark he knows me by," thought Bell, as she put the finishing touches to her toilette.

STELLA'S STORY H Venetian Œale BY |< DAELEY DALE AUTHOR OF "the village blacksmith," "the little doctor," "the game cf LIFE," ETC, ETC. WITK EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS BY PALL W007D7ROLFE LONDON J. S. VIETUE AND CO., LIMITED 26, IVY LANE, PATEBNOSTEE BOW CONTENTS. CHAf. TAGE I. "Gondola Qui" 1 II. The Cat's-Eyb Ring 12 III. Miss Seaton moves on 27 IV. Paul's Home 37 V. Cousin Maby 52 VI. Down the Mine 64 VII. Stella makes an Omelette, and Miss Seaton defines Love 76 VIII. Mary Fenwick loses her Home and Paul his Geandfatheb 85 IX. The Twins toll the Bell 95 X. Maby finds a New Home 105 XL The Doctor's Mistake 117 XII. Which is Sentimental and Shoet . . . .129 XIII. After the Concbet VI CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE XIV. The Bride and Beideoeoom . . . . .148 XV. The Anoel wins both Battle and Race . . .161 XVI.

Stella is in Doubt 174 XVII. The Explosion 181 XVIII. Rose's Return 192 XIX. In the Mine 200 XX. The Cat's-Eye Ring is found 212 XXI. Mary's Fate 220 XXII. Paul leaves the Lakes foe the Lagoons . . . 227 XXIII. The Hen-Pecked Husbands 231 XXIV. In a Gondola LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE " He will never know me with my hair powdered, and I'll put a patch over that little mole on my cheek, which I believe is the distinguishing mark he knows me by," thought Bell, as she put the finishing touches to her toilette . Frontispiece " There, that's done," said Phœbe, as Stella turned the refractory key in the fourth and last box " 33 Stella taking a lesson in omelette making from Madame Poulard 7 7 "About a dozen men, two or three carrying lanterns, came marching down the dark road at a swinging pace " . .106 " Bell was sitting on a form with her back against the wall, and Mr. Brown was by her side ; as he spoke he caught hold of one of her hands and bent forward to look at her downcast eyes" . . .■ 124 " A pretty, fair, plump Nor wegian girl, with a tall white cap and a white apron over her red skirt, came forward, and by signs made them welcome " 151 " He had scarcely seated himself when a noise like a loud peal of thunder, which seemed to come from the bowels of the earth, caused him to jump to his feet " . . . .187 " Stella took it, and looking inside saw the initials P. B., which removed all doubt as to its identity " STELLA'S STOKY.

Chapter I

"GONDOLA QUI." " Gondola ! Gondola Qui ! " The sun had set, the brief twilight had paled into night, but the night was as clear as the day, for the crescent moon had risen, and the stars hung like lamps in the clear Italian sky. Below the blue depths of that star-lit canopy lay the sea, the lights of the ships and boats which lay at anchor or glided on her calm surface mimicked the stars above, while the sea, in turn, mimicked them and reflected their lights. A large and lovely city rose like a magic town from the bosom of the only mother it had ever known, the sea ; cradled in her arms it had grown and thriven, and for centuries been loved as the fairest city on earth — if we can use the expression, " on earth," for Venice, which, as everyone knows, is on the sea most literallv. STELLA'S STORY.

No roar of carriages disturbed the sweet silence which wraps Venice round like a soft mantle, for there carriages are not ; a ripple of laughter now and then broke the stillness, the hum of human voices made itself dimly heard ; the gentle splash of the gondo liers' oars refreshed the ear, recurring constantly at musical intervals ; but above all there came every few minutes, in a deep bass voice from an invisible gondolier, the cry : " Gondola ! Gondola Qui ! " On the balcony of an hotel on the Riva de Schiavone sat three people, apparently indifferent to the oft-repeated invitation of the gondolier. Two were young, two were ladies ; but one of the ladies was of uncertain age, that is, she was certainly not young, neither could she be called old ; we will give her a wide margin and say she was between forty and fifty.

Not a grey hair could be found in the abundant dark hair that English people called black, but which was really only dark brown, which was combed smoothly down over her ears, and gathered into the neatest of plaits at the back of her head. She was small and thin, with an important manner, a springy walk, and a precise method of speech, which were somewhat amusing if not ludicrous in so insignificant a person as Miss Ruth Seaton appeared to strangers to be. Insignificant she might be, but none the less she was very important in her own eyes, " GONDOLA QUI ! " 3 and woe be to man or woman who ventured to differ ever so slightly from her on any subject connected with art. Miss Seaton was an artist, an amateur, but a real artist for all that ; she was also a critic, in fact she was nothing if not critical, and the one great business of her life was to visit all the art galleries and churches containing works of art in Europe and study their contents.

Study did not, of course, necessarily mean to copy ; it often meant to gaze for a morning through opera-glasses on a fresco, to spend an hour or two with some art critic's work in her hand before a picture ; it meant to gaze and wonder, and admire and love, it also meant to criticise and to lay down her opinion concerning it to everyone she met. And who that saw Miss Seaton equipped for " study " in a gallery, would venture to question her j udgment ? A pair of pince-nez on her thin aquiline nose, an opera-glass in her hand, a little leather-bag, containing note-books and guide-books and pencils, on her arm, and a large volume of Eastlake or Kiigler under her other arm, who that did not wish to be snubbed by a scornful look from those dark brown eyes, or a cutting rebuke from those thin lips and sarcastic tongue, would venture to dispute so formidable a lady's opinion ?

Neither of her companions on this May evening had ever yet done so, though the man was quite STELLA'S ST0RV. capable of so doing, if it suited him. But for the last fortnight nothing had suited him so well as to lie in a gondola and — drink in the beauty of Venetian architecture ? ponder over Venetian art ? dream of the past glory of the wondrous city ? wonder where the Venetian masters got their golden tints and their peculiar greens from ? Not a bit of it ; he cared not a jot for any of these things ; he was just then a prey to that " brief madness " that comes to most of us once in a life time — he was in love — and all he cared for was to gaze at the object of his love. Few who saw the sweet flower-like face which had held Paul Benson entranced in Venice three weeks longer than he ought to have stayed there, could wonder at his infatuation, for Stella Graham was very fair to look upon.

As for Paul, he was not uncomely himself, but he was too short to carry off his type of face. Saxon every inch of him, he had blue eyes, a fresh com plexion, a reddish golden beard and moustache, the beard clipped ; his hair cut rather short, after the fashion of the day. He was broad, too broad for his height perhaps, but the implied strength of his wide chest and shoulders compensated for the want of symmetry in his proportions. Strength was the first quality that struck you in Paul Benson j his physical strength was evident at a " GONDOLA QUI ! " 5 glance ; a brief acquaintance showed he was not wanting in strength of mind ; his friends were one and all prepared to vouch for his strength of character. Most of us have some distinguishing quality, virtue, or vice, as the case may be, which manifests itself in our face and figure as much as in our manner and speech, and sometimes seems to impregnate the very atmosphere which surrounds us.

Gravity, frivolity, purity, truth, affectation, zeal, indolence, strength, weakness, humility, pride, cheer fulness, discontent, honesty, hypocrisy — each sets its seal on the face and person as on the manner and conversation. Strength was Paul Benson's distinguishing quality ; precision Miss Seaton's ; purity Stella Graham's. Stella Graham's beauty was of that rare type which does not command universal admiration. Raphael would have painted her ; Rubens would not have looked twice at her ; in fact, Miss Seaton often said her niece might have walked out of one of Raphael's pictures, she was so like some of his Madonnas. Her complexion was exquisitely fair, with a faint tinge of pink in her cheeks ; her white forehead was sur rounded with pale golden hair, which was brushed back from her face, and coiled on the top of her small head, forming a crown a queen might envy ; her eyes were pale golden brown, with dark lashes and delicately pencilled eyebrows ; her nose was somewhat aquiline, but delicately cut ; her mouth when she smiled, which was often, was charming ; when her face was in repose it closed firmly, and indicated a certain strength of will and power of endurance to which the rest of her face did not bear witness.

" Gondola ! Gondola ! Gondola Qui ! " " That poor gondolier ; suppose we have compas sion on him and go out for an hour ? " said Mr. Benson. " Oh ! do go, Aunt Ruth, we have not been out in the evening this year ! " cried Stella. " The spring hitherto was not sufficiently advanced, but I think we may venture to go this evening without imprudence, since you both express the wish," said Miss Seaton, with more than her usual precision. " I do wish it, for it will be my last as well as my first moonlight expedition in a gondola," said Paul Benson. " Your last ! what do you mean ? " said Stella, in surprise, and Paul flattered himself, not altogether unjustly, that there was a ring of anxiety in her voice. " I mean I must go on to England to-morrow. I ought to have gone three weeks ago, but I could not tear myself away from " " Venice, no wonder ; it is an all-absorbing place " GONDOLA QUI !

" 7 of interest," interrupted Miss Seaton, as Paul hesitated to finish his sentence. " Venice was not what held me prisoner," he said, in an under-tone to Stella, as Miss Seaton left the balcony to order some wraps for herself and Stella. " No ? and why must you go to-morrow ? " said Stella, shyly. " To see after my coal-mines. The overseer who has had the entire management of them since my father's death is not altogether satisfactory. I heard from my mother to-day, urging me to return home." " Home ! It must be sweet to have a home," said Stella, dreamily. " Have you none ? " said Paul, in surprise. " No ; we sometimes take a furnished house for six months, but we have no fixed address, no real home ; we are always here in April and May ; beyond that I never know where we shall be from one week to another, and I don't think Aunt Ruth does either.

We travel all the year round." " I wonder if you would like the monotony of English home-life ; would you dare to try ? " and he rose and stooped over the trembling girl till his beard touched her crisp, soft hair. " Stella, dear, here is your cloak and hat ; Phœbe has forgotten your gloves," interrupted Miss Seaton, at this critical juncture. Another minute and Paul would have declared his love, and this story, which, though a love-story, is not all about love, for that, after all, is not the chief business of life, would never have been written. Stella rose hastily, and, with beating heart and blushing cheeks, went inside the room, followed by Paul, who wrapped her fur cloak round her, and Miss Seaton, against her conscience, conceded that for once the gloves might be dispensed with since it was evening, and no one would notice their absence.

In a few minutes they were drifting dreamily past the Ducal Palace, always beautiful, but more lovely than ever in the moonlight, and up the grand canal, a place Miss Seaton never allowed the gondoliers to take her into in the day-time, when she preferred the small canals and out-of-the-way parts of the city, which can only be visited in a gondola. As they glided silently past the various palaces, which rise so mysteriously from their watery base, Miss Seaton discoursed upon Venetian architecture, its curved lines, its cusped arches, its ancient golden splendour, but her companions were too much pre occupied to join in her conversation. Neither did they notice the dreamy beauty of those richly-carved fa-9ades, those mullioned windows, those exquisite balconies of the marble palaces, whose proud towering stories were reflected in the depths of the moon-lit canal, the shadow almost as apparently real as the substance.

" GONDOLA QUI ! " 9 Other gondolas, freighted with other lovers, glided noiselessly by, their quaint metal prows shining like silver in the moonlight, the soft red light of their lamps palpitating in the sea, where they, too, were reflected, but Miss Seaton's young friends paid no heed to them. The veiled beauty of the enchanted city did not move them ; Miss Seaton's art-jargon did not disturb them ; they were absorbed in their own thoughts, each trying to guess the other's. He was wondering if Stella cared enough for him to forego all the pleasures of travelling in this lovely country, and settle down to a humdrum life in Eng land. She was wondering what he meant when he put that question above recorded ; would he repeat it before he went away ? or would he go away with out her answer ? As she wondered, she sat playing with a ring she wore on her right hand ; it was one very large and very brilliant opal ; Paul had often noticed it, for it was the only ring she ever wore ; and he had a stone exactly the same shape and size on his own hand, but his stone was a cat's-eye.

Suddenly, as they turned up one of the narrow side canals, where the moonlight was uncrossed by any other lights, and the weird beauty caused even Paul and Stella to exclaim, Stella dropped her ring into the bottom of the boat. " What have you dropped, Stella ? " said Miss Seaton, as Paul and Stella stooped, and began to search for the ring. " My opal ring," said Stella. " Well, don't upset the boat between you ; wait till we get out. It is too big for you, Stella, you are always dropping it ; I wish you would lose it alto gether one day ; opals are so unlucky. I am not superstitious, Mr. Benson, but I would not possess an opal on any account, and I wish Stella did not." " Stella does not at this moment ; we can't see it anywhere. I shall believe opals are unlucky if I don't find it," said Stella.

" It must be here somewhere," said Paul, as the gondolier gave a warning cry, and, with a dexterous movement of his oar, turned the gondola sharp round a corner, just shaving without touching the wall. " I hope when you have found it you will keep it, Mr. Benson, at any rate till we get back, or I'm sure we shall be upset ! " said Miss Seaton. " Gondolas never upset, Aunt Ruth," said Stella. " Here it is," said Paul, as he descried the ring in a corner of the boat. " Don't give it back to her or she will drop it again. Take care of it please," said Miss Seaton. " May I keep it ? exchange is no robbery ; suppose you take my cat's-eye and I take your opal. Cat's eyes are very lucky, you know," said Paul, as he slipped the opal ring on to his little finger, and " GONDOLA QUI ! " 11 handed Stella his own in its stead, whispering some thing which Miss Seaton did not hear.

Stella took it and put it silently on to her little trembling hand, while Miss Seaton, somewhat scan dalised to find her prudent suggestion had been taken so seriously, thought it wiser to return to the hotel, and ordered the gondolier to do so. " What time do you leave to-morrow, Mr. Ben son ? " asked Miss Seaton, as they landed outside their hotel. " Before you are up. How long shall you stay here? " said Paul. " Till after Corpus Christi, which is in the beginning of June. I always stay to see the procession ; then I am going to Lucerne for a few weeks." " Well, I hope that we shall meet there, if I am unable to come back here before you leave, but I shall try to be here for the procession you speak of ; till then, good-bye." " Good-bye ; we shall miss you very much, shan't we, Stella ?

" "Yes," said Stella, and the great hazel eyes swam with tears as she raised them timidly to Paul. " I will come back," said Paul, as he wrang Stella's little hand. And Stella believed him.

Chapter II. The Cat's-eye Ring

Stella Graham was an orphan ; she had neither father nor mother, brother nor sister ; the only rela tion she had ever known was her Aunt Ruth, her mother's sister. Her mother died when she was born, her father when she was ten years old ; but she had never known him, for he was an officer, and had ap plied for foreign service on his wife's death. His appeal was granted, and he was sent to India, where he afterwards died ; his little girl was left with an old servant until she was nine, when she was sent to boarding-school by Miss Seaton, who was supposed to look after her interests, and who decreed that Phœbe, the nurse, was spoiling her. Phœbe was as great a contrast to Miss Seaton in character as in person. She was about the same a-re and height as her mistress, but there all similarity ceased, for Phœbe was almost as broad as she was long, and very stout and strong into the bargain ; a motherly woman worshipping Stella.

At Major Graham's death, Miss Seaton was ap pointed Stella's guardian, and from that time she generally had the child with her for her holidays ; it involved having Phœbe, too, between whom and Miss Seaton there was a deadly feud, but Stella, gentle enough, usually became almost fierce if any attempt were made to separate her from her nurse. Phœbe went to school with her, took her to the seaside if Miss Seaton were unable to have her for the holidays, and when Stella left school and went to live with her aunt, Phœbe went with her. She hated the life, but she loved Stella, so she submitted to it, not cheerfully, but with many groans, which rose to loud complaints every time Miss Seaton gave the word to move on. Phœbe was English to the backbone, and hated Italy and the Italians only less than she hated Ger many and the Germans, and more than she hated France and the French ; the great grievance of her life was that Stella had no home, and unless she married, or Miss Seaton could be persuaded to settle down, there was no chance of her having one.

For Captain Graham had nothing but his pay, so Stella's fortune, which she inherited from her mother, was a modest one of three hundred a year. Miss Seaton had the same, so, as Phœbe often said, if they lived together they might have a very comfortable home. Miss Seaton, however, had a soul above domestic. comforts : she preferred art to housekeeping, frescoes to furniture, hotels to a villa, climate to fogs, and travelling to garden-parties ; so she travelled. At first Stella had been entirely of her aunt's way of thinking, and Phœbe was in the minority. The new scenes, the beautiful towns and countries they visited, the strange customs, all delighted her ; she studied the languages of the different countries they stayed in, and led an intellectually busy and, on the whole, a happy life. Miss Seaton was always kind, though never demon strative ; sympathetic she was not, or at any rate she had not the power of expressing sympathy if she felt it.

So far, Stella had not felt any lack of sympathy, for Phœbe supplied all that Miss Seaton lacked ; she lavished caresses on the motherless girl, petted and scolded her, listened to all her little troubles, and encouraged such girlish confidences as Miss Seaton would promptly have nipped in the bud as romantic and sentimental. For indulgent on most points, Miss Seaton was very strict in this, and she never allowed Stella to read novels, nor to speak of love or marriage, or any kindred subjects. The absorbing interest of her own life was art, and she endeavoured to make Stella think it was the only thing worth living for, and if the girl had other aspirations she concealed them from her aunt. Within the last three weeks a change had come over Stella, of which Phœbe had taken note, although Miss Seaton was to all appearance unconscious of it.

The girl had been listless and given to day-dreaming, her attention wandered even from Ruskin as Miss Seaton read aloud to her, and she once ventured to say Crowe and Cavalcasselle were dry. The reason of the change was not far to seek, it began soon after they made the acquaintance of Paul Benson, and Miss Seaton was probably the only per son in the hotel who was not aware of it ; everyone else was watching the progress of the affair with keen interest. An old English squire and his wife, who had taken a great fancy to Stella, were particularly interested in the young people, between whom a strong attachment was evidently arising. This couple were childless, and lived half the year abroad, where, as they acknowledged, the one object of their lives was to make the Continent as like England as pos sible.

To this end the old gentleman received his Times a few days old every morning, and the weekly papers in due course ; the old lady had afternoon tea in her room, and dragged a poodle about with a chain, which privately thought her a fool for her pains, and if he could have spoken would not have hesitated to confess he infinitely preferred England to Italy. On the morning after Paul Benson had taken leave of Stella and her aunt, they were breakfasting when, as usually happened, the tall old squire, his fragile little wife, and the poodle joined them. They knew Paul Benson was gone, and the old lady's keen eyes detected the cat's-eye ring on Stella's right hand, and deduced therefrom that it was not an engagement but an understanding. During breakfast, while Mr. Turner and Miss Seaton discussed the news his Times contained, his wife invited Stella to go out in a gondola for a couple of hours that morning with them.

Stella had been in the habit of doing this before Mr. Benson arrived, for Miss Seaton was making some sketches in the Piazza San Marco, and was glad that Stella should not be left to Phœbe. Stella enjoyed these excursions exceedingly, for Mr. Turner always read his Times, and his wife was so taken up with preventing her poodle from jump ing overboard, a thing he had not the slightest intention of doing, that Stella was left to dream in peace, with no fear of being interrupted by a disqui sition on Venetian architecture, or a long quotation from Ruskin, such as were inevitable when Miss Seaton was in the boat. Mr. Turner, having settled the ladies comfortably, gave the gondolier instructions in Italian, of which he had a slight knowledge, where to go, and then buried himself in his Times. His easy-chair in his English home would have been far more comfortable than a gondola, and for all the notice he took of the scenes which would have enchanted an artist, and did enchant Stella, he might as well have been there.

In fact, he was privately of the same opinion as the wit who said, " It was hardly worth while coming so far to ride in a hearse over a drain," and yet he came every year. It was a sunny morning, and as they glided noiselessly over the green sun-lit waters of the canal, sometimes turning into a narrow side one deep in shadow, now shaving another black hearse-like gondola, now slipping dexterously round a corner, during both of which processes the poodle was firmly grasped, Stella lived over again the scene of the previous evening. She saw, as in a dream, the twisted columns which supported the cusped arches of the palace windows, the lading of a gondola at some house where the inhabitants were mov ing with furniture ; of another, at a factory with wares for exportation ; she saw in the back canals linen stretched across from the upper windows to dry, giving touches of colour just where colour was wanted to complete the picture ; she saw the water over which they glided, change from vivid green to darkest indigo through every intermediate tint ; and she did not want Miss Seaton to tell her why the Venetian artists loved green so dearly.

All this she saw in a dream, the reality was the face of Paul c Benson as he sat beside her last night in the moon light, and the cat's-eye on her finger, for she had taken her gloves off unconsciously to play with it. Now and then Mrs. Turner called her attention to a private gondola, with its silver sea-horses and smart gondoliers, standing one in the stern and one in the bows, as it swept swiftly past them Avith a Venetian gentleman on business bent under the glass hood, or to some quaint bridge or picturesque group of peasants, or to some dark-eyed, half-naked urchins eating macaroni or beans, and Stella gazed and admired ; and then again the gentle splash of the gondolier's oar was the only sound which came from their boat. Suddenly Stella, who had been dragging one of her hands in the water, uttered a little cry of dismay.

" What is it, my dear ? " said Mr. Turner, glanc ing up under his glasses at her. " My ring, my ring, I have lost it," said Stella, wringing her hands with a pretty gesture of despair. " That pretty opal-ring you always wear," said the old gentleman, regardless of a warning push from his wife, as he signalled the gondolier to stop. " No, o-o," said Stella, " a cat's-eye, and it is not mine," she added, blushing. " Where did you have it last ; do you remember ?" " I had it when we turned into this canal, because I was holding Rover for Mrs. Turner, and I noticed it. Oh ! what shall I do ? I shall never see it again, and they say a cat's-eye is so lucky," said Stella, with difficulty suppressing her tears. " I'll have the canal searched my dear ; there are divers here, we shall find it no doubt ; I don't want this man to know what we have lost though, so as I have marked the spot well in my mind, I'll tell him to go on," said Mr. Turner.

" I don't deserve a ring, I am so careless ; I was always dropping my opal, and this one was no larger, but I suppose it slipped off in the water," said Stella. " You deserve a ring I hope to see on this finger some day, and you shall have this cat's-eye, or one exactly like it, in a few days," said the old squire. " Oh ! I want the one I have dropped, please, no other would be the same," said Stella, naively. " Then it must be found ; I'll see about it this afternoon," said the old gentleman, gallantly. All the pleasure was gone now for Stella, it was not only the loss of the ring, but it seemed to her it was a bad omen, and though she knew it was very foolish to think so, she could not shake the feel ing off. When Stella returned to the hotel, she found Miss Seaton in a great state of perturbation, because some frescoes she had been to see were decidedly fading ; there was not a doubt of it, she had not seen them for two years, and she was struck by it.