"I!" said Leycester, not loudly, but with an intense emphasis. "I! I did not ask you to do anything of the kind! I have been waiting for you at Waterloo, and thinking that I had missed you and that you had gone on to--to the place I asked you to go to, I hurried there. A man--Mr. Adelstone's servant, I presume--was waiting, and told me Stella was here waiting for me. I came here--that is all!" Frank glared at Jasper and raised an accusing finger, which he pointed threateningly. "Ask _him_ for an explanation!" he said. Leicester looked at the white, defiant face. "What jugglery is this, sir?" he demanded. "Am I to surmise that--that this lady was entrapped and brought here against her will?" Jasper inclined his head. "You are at liberty to surmise what you will," he said. "If you ask me if it was through my instrumentality that this lady was led to break the assignation you had arranged for her, I answer that it was!" "Soh!" It was all Leycester said, but it spoke volumes. "That I used some strategy to effect my purpose, I don't for a moment deny. I used strategy, because it was necessary to defeat your scheme." He paused. Leycester stood upright watching him. "Go on," he said, in a hard, metallic voice. "I brought her here that I, her uncle's and guardian's friend, might point out to her the danger which lay in the path on which you would entice her. I have made it clear to her that it is impossible she should do as you wish." He paused again, and Leycester removed his eyes from the pale face and looked at Stella. "Is what this man says true?" he asked, in a low voice. "Has he persuaded you to break faith with me?" Stella looked at him, and her hands closed over each other. "Don't ask her," broke in Frank. "She is not in a fit state to answer. This fellow, this Jasper Adelstone, has bewitched her! I think he has frightened her out of her senses by some threat----" "Frank! Hush! Oh, hush!" broke from Stella. Lord Leycester started and eyed her scrutinizingly, but he saw only anguish and pity and sorrow--not guilt--in her face. "It is true," declared Frank. "This is what she has said, and this only since I came back into the room, and I can't get any more out of her. I think, Lord Leycester, you had better throw him out of the window." Leycester looked from one to the other. There was evidently more in the case than could be met by following Frank's advice. He put his hand to his head for a moment. "I don't understand," he said, almost to himself. "It is not difficult to understand," said Jasper, with an ill-concealed sneer. "The lady absolutely refuses to keep the appointment you made--you forced upon her. She declines to accompany you. She----" "Silence," said Leycester, in a low voice that was more terrible than shouting. Then he turned to Stella. "Is it so?" he asked. She raised her eyes, and her lips moved. "Yes," she said.