Stella started.
"Mr. Adelstone!"
Mrs. Penfold nodded.
"Yes, Miss Stella. He is such a clever young gentleman, and he's so friendly, he'd do anything for your uncle. He always was friendly, but he's more so than ever now."
"Is he?" said Stella. "Why?"
Mrs. Penfold looked at her with a smile, which died away before Stella's look of unconsciousness.
"I don't know, Miss Stella; but he is. He is always about the cottage. Oh, I forgot! he called yesterday, and left something for you."
And she went out, returning presently with a bouquet of flowers.
"I took them in the pantry, to keep cool and fresh. Aren't they beautiful, miss?"
"Very," said Stella, smelling them and holding them a little way from her, after the manner of her sex. "Very beautiful. It is very kind of him. Are they for uncle, or for me?"