Seating himself unconcernedly on the further end of the bench, the stranger continued to watch Jessie, who had not even the slightest intimation of his presence.
He waited until the crowd thinned out, until only an occasional straggler passed by; then he edged nearer the pretty little creature.
"Ahem!" he began, with a slight cough. After several ineffectual attempts to attract her attention in this way, the stranger spoke to her.
"A lovely day, isn't it?" he remarked.
"Are you speaking to me, sir?" asked Jessie Bain, in great displeasure.
"I am indeed so bold," he answered. "May I hope that you are not offended with me for so doing, for I have a fancy to know such a pretty young girl as yourself."
"I am offended!" cried Jessie Bain, indignantly. "I always supposed before this that people could sit down in a public park without being molested; but it seems not; so I shall move on!"
"So young, so beautiful, but so unkind," murmured the stranger, in a melo-dramatic voice.
"I can not think that we are strangers. I must have seen you somewhere, believe me," he went on, rising suddenly and walking close by her side as she started down the path.
Jessie was now thoroughly frightened. She uttered a little, shrill cry.