A row of asterisks represents a thought break.
"The Literature of Ecstasy"
Albert Mordell
They referred, of course, to the asterisks in the letters to Mrs. A. Those letters I myself prepared for publication; that is to say, I copied them out for the editor, and every now and then I put in a line of asterisks to make it appear that something had been left out.
"The Greater Inclination"
Edith Wharton
The asterisks were a sham-there was nothing to leave out.
"The Greater Inclination"
Edith Wharton