Something has been said of the infinite charm possessed by Leycester, a charm quite irresistible when he chose to exert it. This morning he exerted it to the utmost extent. Stella felt in dreamland and under a spell. If he had asked her to go to land and marry him there and then--if he had asked her to follow him to the ends of the world, she would have felt bound to so follow him. She forgot time and place and everything as she listened to him, for a time at least, but as the boat drifted down to the spot where they had left Frank, she remembered the boy, and looked up with a start. "Frank is not there," she said. "Where has he gone?" Leycester looked up smiling. "You are a sister to him!" he said. "He must have wandered down the bank. He is all right." Then he looked down the river, and a sudden light came into his eyes. "The foolish boy," he said. "He has gone on to the weir." "The weir!" exclaimed Stella. "Don't be frightened," he said. "He is all right. He is standing on the wooden stage over the weir." Stella looked round. "He will fall!" she said. "Isn't it very dangerous?" It did look dangerous. Frank had climbed on to the weir bars and was standing over a narrow beam, his legs apart, his eyes fixed on the big float which danced in the foaming water. "He is all right," said Leycester. "I'll tell him to come off. Don't be alarmed, my darling. You have gone quite pale!" "Call to him to come off at once," said Stella. Leycester rowed to land, and they both walked to the weir, a few paces only. "Better come off there, Frank," called out Leycester. Frank looked round. "I've just had a touch," he said. "There is a tremendous jack there, or perhaps it's a trout; he'll come again directly." "Come off," said Leycester. "You are frightening Stella--your cousin." "All right," said Frank, but at the moment the fish, jack or trout, seized the bait, and with an exultant cry, Frank jerked his rod. "I've got him!" he shouted. "It's a monster! Have you got a net Lord--I mean Leycester?" "No, bother the net and the fish too," said Leycester. "Leave the fish and come off; your cousin is alarmed." "Oh, very well," said Frank, and he jerked the rod to get clear of the fish, and at the same moment turned warily toward the shore. But the fish--jack or trout--had got a firm hold, and was not disposed to go, and making a turn to the open river, put a strain on the rod which Frank had not expected. It was a question whether he should drop the rod or cling on. He decided on the latter, and the next moment he missed his footing and fell into the foaming water. Stella did not utter a cry--it was not her way of expressing her emotion--but she grasped Leycester's arm. "All right, my darling," he murmured; "it is all right," and as he spoke, he put her hand from his arm gently and tenderly. The next moment he had torn off his coat, and springing on the weir stood for just a second to calculate the distance, and dived off.