She
had so trained her voice that she read or sang with almost tireless
ease. To furnish home music, to shine in the light of her own hearth,
had been the dream of her ambition; and to the man she had won she
made that hearth the centre of the gentle force which controlled and
blessed his life.
But little further remains to be said concerning the other characters
of this story. The severe lesson received by Stella Wildmere had a
permanent effect upon her character. It did not result in a very
high type of womanhood, for the limitations of her nature scarcely
permitted this; but it brought about decided changes for the better.
She was endowed with fair abilities and a certain hard, practical
sense, which enabled her to see the folly of her former scheme of
life. Blind, inconsiderate selfishness, which asked only, "What do I
wish the present moment?" had brought humiliation and disaster, and,
as her father had suggested, she possessed too much mind to repeat
that blunder. She recognized that she could not ignore natural
laws and duties and go very far in safety. Therefore, instead of
querulousness and repining, or showing useless resentment toward
her father for misfortunes which she had done nothing to avert, she
stepped bravely and helpfully to his side, and amid all the chaos of
the financial storm that was wrecking him he was happier than he had
been for years.
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