I was terrified. Dad wasn't there.
But the man was in the balcony just overhead, and he swung himself down,
I never saw how, and caught me in his arms. He had nothing to put it out
with. He simply threw me down and flung himself on the top, beating out
the flames in all directions with his hands. I was dreadfully upset, of
course, but I wasn't much hurt. He was--horribly. One of his hands was
all charred.

"He carried me back into the hotel and told me not to be frightened. And
he stayed with me till I felt better, because somehow I wanted him to.
He was so strong, Froggy, and so kind. He had a voice like a woman's.
I've thought since that he must have thought me very foolish and
uncontrolled. But he seemed to understand just how I felt. And--do you
know--I never saw him again! He went right away that very afternoon, and
we never found out who he was. And I never thanked him even for saving
my life. I don't think he wanted to be thanked.

"But I have never forgotten him. He was the sort of man you never could
forget. I've never seen any one in the least like him. He was somehow so
much greater than all the other men I know. Am I a fool, Froggy? I
suppose I am. They say every woman will meet her mate if she waits long
enough, but it can't be true. I suppose I might as well marry the Yankee
heir, only I can't--I can't!"

The low voice ceased, and there fell a silence. Froggy's arms were
folded very closely about the kneeling girl, but she had no words of
comfort or counsel to offer. She was, in fact, out of her depth, though
not for worlds would she have had Priscilla know it.

"You must just follow your own heart, dearest," she said at last. "And I
think you will find happiness some day. God grant it!"

Priscilla lifted her head and kissed her. She knew quite well that she
had led whither Froggy could not follow. But the knowledge did not hurt
her.

She called Romeo, and went out into the summer sunshine, with a smile
half tender and half humorous at the corners of her mouth. Poor Froggy!

III

THE PICNIC IN THE GLEN

"I think we will go for a picnic, Romeo," said Priscilla.

It was a Saturday afternoon, warm and slumbrous, and Saturday was the
day on which Raffold Abbey was open to the public when the family were
away. Priscilla's presence was, as it were, unofficial, but though she
was quite content to have it so, she was determined to escape from sight
and hearing of the hot and dusty crowd that t