ou can tell me."

"I?" She fancied his face clouded again, but he did not move from his
tranquil attitude.

"As I told you," she went on, "Owen has worked himself up to imagining
that for some mysterious reason you've influenced Sophy against him."

Darrow still visibly wondered. "It must indeed be a mysterious reason!
He knows how slightly I know Miss Viner. Why should he imagine anything
so wildly improbable?"

"I don't know that either."

"But he must have hinted at some reason."

"No: he admits he doesn't know your reason. He simply says that Sophy's
manner to him has changed since she came back to Givre and that he's
seen you together several times--in the park, the spring-house, I don't
know where--talking alone in a way that seemed confidential--almost
secret; and he draws the preposterous conclusion that you've used your
influence to turn her against him."

"My influence? What kind of influence?"

"He doesn't say."

Darrow again seemed to turn over the facts she gave him. His face
remained grave, but without the least trace of discomposure. "And what
does Miss Viner say?"

"She says it's perfectly natural that she should occasionally talk to
my friends when she's under my roof--and refuses to give him any other
explanation."

"That at least is perfectly natural!"

Anna felt her cheeks flush as she answered: "Yes--but there is
something----"

"Something----?"

"Some reason for her sudden decision to break her engagement. I can
understand Owen's feeling, sorry as I am for his way of showing it. The
girl owes him some sort of explanation, and as long as she refuses to
give it his imagination is sure to run wild."

"She would have given it, no doubt, if he'd asked it in a different
tone."

"I don't defend Owen's tone--but she knew what it was before she
accepted him. She knows he's excitable and undisciplined."

"Well, she's been disciplining him a little--probably the best thing
that could happen. Why not let the matter rest there?"

"Leave Owen with the idea that you HAVE been the cause of the break?"

He met the question with his easy smile. "Oh, as to that--leave him with
any idea of me he chooses! But leave him, at any rate, free."

"Free?" she echoed in surprise.

"Simply let things be. You've surely done all you could for him and Miss
Viner. If they don't hit it off it's their own affair. What possible
motive can you have for trying to interfere now?"

Her gaze widened to a deepe