And he stood in front of her, shading her from the gaze of the others. Frances closed her eyes for a second. "It was a hot, long walk," she said then, somewhat faintly. And she looked up and smiled at him. It was the sweetest of smiles, but Arnold, too, felt, as well as the lawyer, that there was something unnatural and sad in it. "I don't understand it," he said to himself. "There's some trouble on her; what can it be? I'm afraid it's a private matter, for the squire's right enough. Never saw the old boy looking jollier." Aloud he said, turning to Fluff, "Would it not be a good thing to get a cup of tea for Frances? No?--now I insist. I mean you must let us wait on you, Frances; Miss Danvers and I will bring the tea out here. We absolutely forbid you to stir a step until you have taken it." His "we" meant "I." Frances was only too glad to lie back in the comfortable chair, and feel, if only for a few minutes, she might acknowledge him her master. The squire, finding all this fuss about Frances wonderfully uncongenial, had retired into the house, and Arnold and Fluff served her daintily--Arnold very solicitous for comfort, and Fluff very merry, and much enjoying her present office of waiting-maid. "I wish this tea might last forever," suddenly exclaimed Frances. Her words were spoken with energy, and her dark eyes, as they glanced at Arnold, were full of fire. It was not her way to speak in this fierce and spasmodic style, and the moment the little sentence dropped from her lips she blushed. Arnold looked at her inquiringly. "Are you too tired to have a walk with me?" he said. "Not far--down there under the shade of the elm-trees. You need not be cruel, Frances. You can come with me as far as that." Frances blushed still more vividly. "I am really very tired," she answered. There was unwillingness in her tone. Arnold gazed at her in surprise and perplexity. "Perhaps," he said, suddenly, looking at Fluff, "perhaps, if you are quite too tired even to stir a few steps, Frances, Miss Danvers would not greatly mind leaving us alone here for a little." Before she could reply, he went up to the young girl's side and took her hand apologetically. "You don't mind?" he said. "I mean, you won't think me rude when I tell you that I have come all the way from Australia to see Frances?" "Rude? I am filled with delight," said Fluff. Her eyes danced; she hummed the air of "Sweethearts" quite in an obtrusive manner as she ran into the house. "Oh, squire," she said, running up to the old man, who had seated himself in his favorite chair in the parlor. "I have discovered such a lovely secret." "Ah, what may that be, missy? By the way, Fluff, you will oblige me very much if you will call Frances here. This paraffine lamp has never been trimmed--if I light it, it will smell abominably; it is really careless of Frances to neglect my comforts in this way. Oblige me by calling her, Fluff; she must have finished her tea by this time."