"We were on the water----" "I was fishing from the weir," broke in Frank, pressing her hand, warningly, "and I fell in; that is all." There was something almost like defiance in the tone and the glance he gave at the sinister face. "Into the weir stream!" exclaimed Jasper, "and you got ashore! You must be a good swimmer, my dear Frank!" "I am--pretty well," said Frank, almost sullenly. "Perhaps you had the waterman to help you," said Jasper, looking from one to the other. Then Stella, who felt that it would be better to speak out, said, gravely: "Lord Leycester was near, and leapt in and saved him." Jasper's face paled, and an angry light shot from his eyes. "How fortunate that he should happen to be near!" he said. "It was brave of him!" There was a suspicion of a sneer in the thin voice that roused the spirit of the boy. "It was brave," he said. "Perhaps you don't know what it is to swim through a weir current, Mr. Adelstone?" Jasper smiled down at the flushed, upturned face. "No, but I think I should have tried if I had been lucky enough to be in Lord Leycester's place." "I'm very glad you weren't," said Frank, in a low voice. "I am sure you would," said Stella, quickly. "Anyone would. Come, Frank. Good-evening, Mr. Adelstone." Jasper paused and looked at her. She looked very beautiful with her flushed face and eager eyes, and his heart was beating rapidly. "I came out hoping to see you, Miss Etheridge," he said. "May I come in?" "Yes, of course; uncle will be very pleased," she said. "But go in the front way, please; we are going in at the back, because we don't wish uncle to know. It would only upset him. You will not tell him, please?" "You may always rely on my discretion," said Jasper. Stella, still holding Frank's hand, dragged him into the kitchen, and stopped Mrs. Penfold's exclamation of dismay. "Frank has had an accident, Mrs. Penfold. Yes, he fell in the river. I'll tell you all about it afterward; but he must change his things at once--at once. Run up, Frank, and get into the blanket----" "All right," he said; then, as he went out of the room, he took her by the arm. "Don't let that man stay, Stella. I--hate him." "My dear Frank!" "I hate him! What did he mean by sneering at Lord Leycester?" "He doesn't like Lord Leycester," said Stella. "Who cares?" exclaimed Frank, indignantly. "Curs are not particularly fond of lions, but----" Stella would hear no more, but pushed him up the stairs with anxious impatience; then she went into the studio. As she neared the door she could hear Jasper Adelstone's voice. He was talking to her uncle, and something in the tone struck her as peculiar, and struck her unpleasantly. There was a tone of familiarity, almost of covert power in it that annoyed her. With her hand on the door she paused, and it seemed to her as if she heard him speak her name; she was not sure, and she would not wait, but with a little heightened color she opened the door and entered.