Lady Lenore looked after him with cold disdain, then she bit her lip and her eyes dropped, and suddenly, without raising her voice, she said: "Wait!" He turned and stood with his hand thrust in the breast of his coat, his face calm and self-possessed. She paused a moment and eyed him, struggling, if the truth were known, and no doubt he knew it, with her curiosity and her pride, which last forbade her hold any further converse with him. At last curiosity conquered. "I have called you back, sir, to ask the nature of this mistake you say that you have made. Your conduct, your manner, your words are inexplicable to me. Be good enough to explain." It was a command, and he inclined his head in respectful recognition. "I am a student of nature, my lady," he said, in a low voice, "and I am fond of rambling in the woods here, especially at moonlight; it is not a singular fancy." Her face did not flush, but her eyes gleamed; she saw the sneer in the words. "Go on, sir," she said, coldly. "Chance led me to-night in the direction of the river. I was standing admiring it when two individuals--the two individuals who have just left us--approached. Suspecting a love tryst, I was retreating, when the moon revealed to me that one of the individuals was a person in whom I take a great interest." "Which?" she asked, coldly and calmly. "The young lady," he replied, and his eyes drooped for a moment. "That interest rather than curiosity,"--her lips curled, and she looked up at him with infinite scorn--"interest rather than curiosity prompted me to remain and, an unwilling listener, I heard the strange engagement--betrothal, call it what you will--that took place." He paused. She drew the shawl round her head and eyed him askance. "In what way does this concern me, sir?" she demanded, haughtily. "Pardon! you perceive my mistake," he said, with a fitting smile. "I was under the impression that as _interest_ or _curiosity_ prompted you also to listen, you might be pleased to assist me." She bit her lip now. "How did you know that I was listening?" she demanded. He smiled. "I saw your ladyship approach; I saw you take up your position behind the tree, and _I saw your face as they talked_." As she remembered all that that face must have told him, her heart throbbed with a wild longing to see him helpless at her feet; her face went a blood red, and her hands closed tightly on the shawl. "Well, sir?" she said at last, after a pause, during which he had stood eying her under his lowered lids. "Granting that you are right in your surmises, how can I assist you, supposing that I choose to do so?" He looked at her full in the face. "By helping me to prevent the fulfillment of the engagement--betrothal, which you and I have just witnessed," he said, promptly and frankly. She was silent a moment, her eyes looking beyond him as if she were considering, then she said: