truder had come to the conclusion that he was
of the right sort, and Donald was sitting close on his launches beside
Stafford, and thrusting his nose against Stafford's hand invitingly.
The girl's beauty seemed to Stafford almost bewildering, and yet softly
and sweetly a part of the beauty of the night; he was conscious of a
fear, that was actually a dread, that she would bow, call the dogs and
leave him; so, before she could do so, he made haste to say:

"Now I am here, will you allow me to apologise for my trespass of this
afternoon?"

She inclined her head slightly.

"It does not matter," she said; "you were very kind in helping me with
the lamb; and I ought to have told you that my father would be very
glad if you would fish in the Heron; you will find some better trout
higher up the valley."

"Thank you very much," said Stafford.

Calling the dogs, she turned away; then, fortunately, Stafford
remembered the case of instruments.

"Oh, I beg your pardon!" he said; "I forgot this wallet. I found it by
the stream after you had gone."

"Oh, my wallet!" she cried. "I am so glad you have found it. I don't
know what I should have done if you had not; I should have had to send
to Preston or to London; and, besides, it was a present from the old
veterinary surgeon; he left it to me. There were some beautiful
instruments in it."

Still smiling, she opened it, as if to show him. Stafford drew near, so
near as to become conscious of the perfume of the rose in her bosom, of
the still fainter but more exquisite perfume of her hair. He bent over
the case in silence, and while they were looking a cloud sailed across
the moon.

The sudden disappearance of the light roused her, as it were, to a
sense of his presence.

"Thank you for bringing it to me," she said; "it was very good of you."

"Oh, I hadn't to bring it far," said Stafford. "I am staying at The
Woodman Inn, at Carysford."

"Oh," she said; "you are a tourist--you are fishing?"

Stafford could not bring himself to say that he was the son of the man
who had built the great white house, which, no doubt, her father and
she resented.

"You have a very beautiful place here," he said, after a pause.

She turned and looked at the house in the dim light, with a touch of
pride in her dreamy eyes.

"Yes," she said, as if it were useless to deny the fact.

"It is very old, and I ma very fond--"

She stopped suddenly, her lips apart, her eyes fixed on the farthe