"I couldn't do it!" exclaimed the old man, almost with alarm. "I should be like a fish out of water. I couldn't paint away from the river and the meadows. Oh, it's impossible! Besides, you don't want an old man pottering about," and he looked at Stella and smiled grimly. "I couldn't go without you," said Stella, quietly. "Nonsense," he said; "there's the other old woman, Mrs. Penfold, take her; she can go. It will do her good, though she hasn't a cold." Then he stopped in front of the boy and looked at him, with the strange reserved, almost sad, expression which always came upon his race when he regarded him. "Yes," he said, in a low voice; "he wants a change. I haven't noticed; he looks thin and unwell. Yes, you had better go! Where will you go?" Stella shook her head with a smile, but Jasper was ready. "Let me see," he said, thoughtfully. "We don't want a cold place, the change would be too great; and we don't want too hot a place. What do you say to Cornwall?" The old man nodded. Stella smiled again. "I haven't anything to say," she said. "Would you like Cornwall, Frank?" He looked from one to the other. "What made you think of Cornwall?" he asked Jasper, suspiciously. Jasper laughed softly. "It seemed to me just the place to suit you. It is mild and clear, and just what you want. Besides, I remember a little place near the sea, a sheltered village in a bay--Carlyon they call it--that would just do for us. What do you say? Let me see, where is the map?" He went and got a map and spreading it out on the table, called to Stella. "This is it," he said, then in a low voice he whispered: "There is a pretty, secluded little church there, Stella. Why should we not be married there?" She started, and her hand fell on the map. "I am thinking of you, my darling," he said. "For my part I should like to be married here----" "No, not here," she faltered, as she thought of standing before the altar in the Wyndward Church and seeing the white walls of the Hall as she uttered her marriage vow. "Not here." "I understand," he said. "Then why not there? Your uncle could come down for that, I think." She did not speak, and with a smile of satisfaction he folded the map. "It is all settled," he said. "We go to Carlyon. You will come down for a little while, I hope, sir. We shall want you." The old man pushed the white hair off his forehead. "Eh?" he asked. "What for?" "To give Stella away," replied Jasper. "She has promised to marry me there." The old man looked at her. "Why not here?" he asked, naturally, but Stella shook her head. "Very well," he said. "It is a strange fancy, but girls are fanciful. Off you go, then, and don't make more fuss than you can help." So Stella's fate was settled, and the day, the fatal day, loomed darkly before her. CHAPTER XXXVI.