There were seats outside the summer-house as well as within, and he motioned toward one of them.

“No, thank you.  I think I’ll go back,” said Lucy, and her voice trembled.

“Why, you’ve only just come!  Why not stay a while and have a visit with me?  You must have been intending to stay.”

“Oh, no!” said Lucy, eagerly, and stopped short, listening.  What if George Jarvis should come round the corner at any moment?  She must get Jeff away with her.  “Won’t you walk along up to the house with me?  I only came down to see if I’d left something in the summer-house.”

Jeff had planned what he would say to her, but at this his disgust got the better of him.  “Lucy,” said he—­and his voice had changed from lightness to gravity—­“don’t you mind a bit saying what isn’t true?”

* * * * *

CHAPTER IX

“What do you mean, Jefferson Birch, by saying such a thing?” Lucy’s tone was one of mingled anger and fright.

“I mean,” said Jeff, coolly, “that if coming down here to meet George Jarvis were what you were proud of doing, you wouldn’t try to cover it up.  Do you know, Lu, I’m tremendously sorry you find any fun in a thing like that.”

“Dear me,”—­Lucy tried hard to assume her usual self-confident manner—­“Who appointed you guardian of young ladies?”

“The trouble is—­well—­you’re not a young lady yet.  You’re only a girl.  If you were a real grown-up young lady there’d be nothing I could do about your stealing out at this late hour to meet a young man except to laugh and think my own thoughts.  But since you’re only a girl—­”

“You can insult me!” Lucy was very near tears now—­angry, mortified tears.

“I don’t mean to insult you, and I think you know that.  If anybody has insulted you it’s the boy who asked you to meet him here.  He must have been the one to propose it, of course, and you thought it would be fun.  Lu, when I found this out I should have gone straight to my sister Charlotte and told her to come and meet you here instead of myself, if I hadn’t known how it would disappoint her.  She would have taken it to heart much more seriously than you can realise.  She’s entertained you all winter and spring, and the responsibilities of looking after you and Ran have been heavy on her shoulders.  She’s tried hard to give you a good time, too.”

Lucy turned and walked deliberately away down the path toward the boat-landing.

“I’m bungling it,” thought Jeff, uncomfortably, and stood still, waiting.  “Perhaps I ought to have let Evelyn tackle the business, after all.”

Lucy walked out upon the landing, where the Butterfly swung lazily in the wash of the current.  Suddenly, quite without warning, she ran the length of the little pier and leaped for the boat.  It had looked an easy distance, but as she made the jump she realised too late that the interval of water between pier and boat was wider than it had looked in the moonlight.  With a scream and a splash she went down, and an instant later Jeff, dashing down the pier, saw only a widening circle gleaming faintly on the water.