you home at once."

She took his arm and looked up into his face.

"At once, Mr. Andrew?" she asked timidly.

"As soon as the storm goes down," he answered, glancing uneasily
towards the clock. "Listen, please, Miss--"

"Jeanne," she whispered.

"Miss Jeanne, then," he said. "There are some things which you do not
yet understand very well, because you have been brought up differently
to most English girls. I have some influence with Mr. De la Borne, and
I shall do what I can for you up at the house. But it is very certain
that you must not think of leaving your stepmother unless you have some
other relative who is willing to take you. A child of your age cannot
live alone. It is unheard of."

She sighed, and turned away.

"Very well, Mr. Andrew," she said. "If you do not wish to be troubled
with me I will go back. I am ready when you are."

Andrew looked once more out of the window.

"We cannot cross just yet," he said. "The tide is coming in very fast,
and even here there is a big sea."

"It is magnificent," she answered, stealing back to his side. "I only
wish that we were outside."

"You could not stand up," he answered. "Listen!"

The thunder of the incoming waves seemed to fill the room. Even while
they stood there a little shower of pebbles and spray were dashed
against the windows. Andrew looked anxiously across the estuary and
tapped the barometer by his side.

"I am afraid," he said, "that you are going to be late for dinner
to-night. You are a bona fide prisoner here for an hour or more at
least."

"I am so glad," she answered.

There was a knock at the door. A man entered with a tea-tray. He was in
plain clothes and was obviously a servant. Jeanne looked at him in
surprise.

"Has Mr. Berners left his servant here?" she asked.

"For a day or two," Andrew answered hastily. "He may come back, you
see, and he went away in a great hurry. Martin, bring another teacup,
and make the tea, please."

The man set down the tray and bowed.

"Very good, sir," he answered.

Jeannie watched him disappear, perplexed. Was it because he was so
perfectly trained a servant that he addressed the man at her side with
the same respect that he would have shown to his own master?

"I may stay for tea, may I?" she asked. "That is something, at any
rate. I am going to look round at your things. You don't mind, do you?"

"Certainly not," he answered. "That big fish on the wall was caught
within fifty yards of