Perhaps, as she has never known it, she does not
miss it."
The truth was that if the absence of intercourse with youth
produced its subtle effect on her, she was not aware of any lack,
and a certain uncompanioned habit of mind, which gave her much
time for dreams and thought, was accepted by her as a natural
condition as simply as her babyhood had accepted the limitations
of the Day and Night Nurseries.
She was not a self-conscious creature, but the time came when she
became rather disturbed by the fact that people looked at her very
often, as she walked in the streets. Sometimes they turned their
heads to look after her; occasionally one person walking with
another would say something quietly to his or her companion, and
they even paused a moment to turn quite round and look. The first
few times she noticed this she flushed prettily and said nothing
to Mademoiselle Valle who was generally with her. But, after her
attention had been attracted by the same thing on several different
days, she said uneasily:
"Am I quite tidy, Mademoiselle?"
"Quite," Mademoiselle answered--just a shade uneasy herself.
"I began to think that perhaps something had come undone or my
hat was crooked," she explained. "Those two women stared so. Then
two men in a hansom leaned forward and one said something to the
other, and they both laughed a little, Mademoiselle!" hurriedly,
"Now, there are three young men!" quite indignantly.
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