Lenore came down the path, neither looking to the right nor the left, but straight before her, her head held up haughtily and her whole gait as full of pride and conscious power as if she were treading the floor of a London ball-room. Even in doing a mean thing, she could not do it meanly. Arrived at the weir she stood for a moment looking down at the water, her gloved hand resting on the wooden sill, and Jasper watching her, could not but wonder at her calm self-possession. "And yet," he thought, "she has more at stake than I. She has a coronet--and the man she loves," and the thought gave him courage, as he came out and stood before her, raising his hat. CHAPTER XXVI. She turned and inclined her head haughtily, and waited, as if for him to speak, but Jasper remained silent. She had sent for him; he was here! At last she spoke. "You received my note, Mr. Adelstone?" "I am here," he said, with a slight smile. She bit her lip, her pride revolting at his presence, at his very tone. "I sent for you," she said, after a pause, and in the coldest tone, "because I have some information which I thought would interest you." "Your ladyship is very good," he said. "And because," she went on, scorning to accept his thanks, "I thought you might be of service." He inclined his head. He would not meet her half way--would not help her. Let her tell him why she had sent for him, and he would throw himself into the case, not till then. "The last time that we met you said words which I am not likely to have forgotten." "I have not forgotten them," he said, "and I am prepared to stand by them." "You profess to be willing--to be eager to prevent a certain occurrence?" "If you mean the marriage of Lord Leycester and Stel--Miss Etheridge, I am more than willing; I am determined to prevent it!" "You speak with great confidence," she said. "I am always confident, Lady Lenore," he said. "It is by confidence that great things are achieved; this is only a small one." "And yet it may be beyond your power to achieve," she said, scornfully. "I think not," he retorted, quietly and gravely. "Be that as it may," she said, "I have come here this evening to place in your hands a piece of information respecting the girl in whom you profess to take an interest." The blood came to his pale face, and his eyes gleamed with sudden resentment. "By 'the girl,' do you refer to Miss Stella Etheridge?" he said, quietly. "If so, permit me to remind your ladyship that she is a lady!" Lady Lenore made a gesture of haughty indifference. "Call her what you please," she said, coldly, insolently. "I did refer to her." "And to the man in whom you take an interest?" he said, with an insolence that matched her own. The dark red flamed in her face, and she looked at him. "That is a side of the question which we will not enter upon, if you please, Mr. Adelstone," she said.