"Stay," he said, and he stood in the path so that she could not pass him, "Stay one moment. I will not ask you to reconsider your reply. I will only ask you to forgive me." His voice grew hoarse, and his eyes drooped. "Yes, I will beg you to forgive me. Think of what I am suffering, and you will not refuse me that. Forgive me, Stella--Miss Etheridge! I have been wrong, mad, and brutal; but it has sprung from the depth of my love; I am not altogether to blame. Will you say that you will forgive me, and that--that we remain friends?" Stella paused. He watched her eagerly. "If--if," he said quickly, before she could speak--"if you will let this pass as if it had not been--if you will forget all I have said--I will promise not to offend again. Do not let us part--do not send me away never to see you again. I am an old friend of your uncle's; I should not like to lose his friendship; I think I may say that he would miss mine. Let us be friends, Miss Etheridge." Stella inclined her head. "Thank you, thank you," he said, meekly, tremulously; "I shall be very grateful for your friendship, Miss Stella. I will keep the rose to remind me of your forbearance," and he was patting the rose in his coat, when Stella with a start stretched out her hand. "No! give it me back, please," she said. He stood eying her. "Let me keep it," he said; "it is a little thing." "No!" she said, firmly, and her face burnt. "You must not keep it. I--I did not think when I gave it to you! Give it me back, please," and she held out her hand. He still hesitated, and Stella, overstrained, made a step toward him. "Give it me," she said. "I must--I will have it!" An angry flush came on his face, and he held the rose from her. "It is mine," he said. "You gave it to me; I cannot give it back." The words had scarcely left his lips, when the rose was dashed from his hand, and Frank stood white and panting between them. "How dare you!" he gasped, passionately, his hands clinched, his eyes gleaming fiercely upon the white face. "How dare you!" and with a savage exclamation the boy dashed his foot on the flower, and ground it under his heel. The action, so full of scornful defiance, spurred Jasper back to consciousness. With a smothered oath he grasped the boy's shoulders. Frank turned upon him with the savage ferocity of a wild animal, with upraised arm. Then, suddenly, like a lightning flash, Jasper's face changed and a convulsive smile forced itself upon his lips. He caught the arm and held it, and smiled down at him. "My dear Frank," he murmured. "What is the matter?" So sudden was the change, so unexpected, that Stella, who had caught the boy's other arm, stood transfixed. Frank gasped. "What did you mean by keeping the rose?" he burst out. Jasper laughed softly.