very much."

He spoke in a slightly patronising tone, as an elderly gentleman might
confess to a fondness for chocolates in order to please a small nephew.
He felt it necessary to make it quite clear to Priscilla that he had not
come to Rosnacree to be her playmate and companion. He had come to fish
salmon in company with her father and such other grown men as might from
time to time present themselves. Nursery games in stumpy green boats
were not consonant with his dignity. He did not want to hurt Priscilla's
feelings, but he was anxious that she should understand his position.
She seemed unimpressed.

"That's all right," she said. "I'll row you. You can sit in the stern
and let your legs dangle over in the water. I've often done that when
Peter Walsh has been rowing. It's quite a jolly thing to do."

It was a thing which Frank Mannix was quite determined not to do. The
suggestion that he should behave in such a way struck him as "cheeky"
in a very high degree. A lower schoolboy in Edmondstone House, if he
had ventured to speak in such a way, would have been beaten with a fives
bat. But Priscilla was a girl and, as Frank understood, girls are not
beaten. He answered her with kindly condescension.

"Perhaps we'll be able to manage it some day," he said, "before I
leave."

They arrived at Rosnacree House and Frank was helped up the steps by the
butler and the coachman. Sir Lucius expressed the greatest regret when
he heard of his nephew's accident.

"It's too bad," he said, "too bad, and the river in such fine condition
after a fortnight's rain. I was looking forward to seeing you get into
your first salmon. But cheer up, Frank, I daresay it won't turn out to
be very tedious. We'll have you hobbling along in a week or a fortnight.
We've a good while before us yet. I'll get up O'Hara this afternoon,
our local practitioner. Not a bad fellow at all, though he drinks a
bit. Still he'll know what to do with a sprained ankle. Oh! by the way
perhaps----"

Sir Lucius' sentence ended abruptly. His sister entered the room. She
greeted Frank and inquired whether he had enjoyed his journey. The story
of the accident was told to her. It was evident at once that she took
a keen interest in the sprained ankle. Priscilla, describing the scene
afterwards to Rose, the under housemaid, said that Miss Lentaigne's eyes
gleamed and sparkled with joy. Every one in the household had for many
weeks carefully refrained from illness or dis