mid wild creatures which evidently knew and trusted her awakened
something responsive in him. Half the pool now glimmered in the rosy
light, with here and there an alder branch reflected upon its mirror-like
surface, and Millicent stood on a strip of gravel with her figure clearly
outlined against it. Dressed in closely-fitting, soft-colored tweed, tall
and finely symmetrical, she harmonized with rock and flood wonderfully
well. Lisle had occasionally seen a bush rancher's daughter, armed with
gun or fishing-rod, look very much at home in similar surroundings; but
this English lady, of culture and station, reared in civilized luxury,
appeared equally in her right place.

He afterward recollected each adjunct of the scene--the stillness, the
pale gleam of the water, and the aromatic smell of fallen leaves, but the
alluring, central figure formed the sharpest memory. By and by she
clapped her hands, the ducks rose and flew away up-stream with necks
stretched out, and she came back toward him, laughing softly.

"Sometimes they will come almost up to my feet; but I'm afraid it's
hardly fair to inspire them with an undue confidence in human nature. It
might cost them dear."

"You're wonderful!" Lisle exclaimed, expressing what he felt, for she
seemed to him endowed with every gracious quality.

"Oh," she smiled, "there's nothing really remarkable in what I showed
you. I happened to find the nest and by slow degrees disarmed the mother
bird's suspicions; mallard have been domesticated, you know, though
they're often hard to get very near. But we may as well turn back; it's
now too late to see an otter. I'm inclined to think they're the shyest of
all the British wild creatures."

They moved away down-stream side by side, and some time later she left
him where a stile-path crossed a meadow.

"Come and see my drawings whenever you like," she said on parting.

Lisle determined to go as soon as possible. Quite apart from the
drawings, the idea of going had its attractions for him, and he walked
homeward determined that this girl should never marry Clarence Gladwyne.
It was unthinkable--that was the only word for it.

CHAPTER X

BELLA'S CHAMPION

It was early in the afternoon when Lisle arrived at Millicent's house
and, after a glance at its quaint exterior, was ushered into her
drawing-room. There he sat down and looked about while he waited. The
salient tones of its decoration were white and aqueous blue, and t