hat shook strangely. Her eyes were downcast, her
cheeks scarlet, her whole manner palpably and inexplicably embarrassed.

"Four, weeks ago, I reached Canada. I did not write you, Kate, that I
was coming. I wished to give you a surprise. I stopped at
Belleplain--you know the town of Belleplain, thirty miles from here--to
see a brother officer I had known at Windsor. Travelling from Belleplain
in a confounded stage, I stopped half frozen at an old farm-house six
miles off. Next morning, pursuing my journey on foot, I met with a
little mishap."

He paused provokingly to fill at his leisure a glass of sherry; and
Doctor Danton watching Rose under his eyelashes, saw the colour coming
and going in her traitor face.

"I slipped on a sheet of ice," continued Mr. Stanford. "I am not used to
your horrible Canadian roads, remember, and strained my ankle badly. I
had to be conveyed back to the farm-house on a sled--medical attendance
procured, and for three weeks I have been a prisoner there. I could have
sent you word, no doubt, and put you to no end of trouble bringing me
here, but I did not like that; I did not care to turn Danton Hall into a
hospital, and go limping through life; so I made the best of a bad
bargain and stayed where I was."

There was a general murmur of sympathy from all but Sir Ronald and Rose.
Sir Ronald sat like a grim statue in granite; and Rose, still fluttering
and tremulous, did not dare to lift her eyes.

"You must have found it very lonely," said Doctor Danton.

"No. I regretted not getting here, of course; but otherwise it was not
unpleasant. They took such capital care of me, you see, and I had a
select little library at my command; so, on the whole, I have been in
much more disagreeable quarters in my lifetime."

Doctor Frank said no more. He had gained his point, and he was
satisfied.

"It is quite clear," he thought. "By some hocus-pocus, Miss Rose has
made his acquaintance during those three weeks, and helped the slow time
to pass. He did not tell her he was her sister's lover, hence the
present frigidity. The long morning rides are accounted for now. I
wonder"--he looked at pretty Rose--"I wonder if the matter will end
here?"

It seemed as if it would. Doctor Danton, coming every day to the Hall,
and closely observant always, saw no symptoms of thawing out on Rose's
part, and no effort to please on the side of Mr. Stanford. He treated
her as he treated Eeny and Grace, courteously, gen