"Refused to see him!"

"She has told me since that she never intends to see him."

"Never intends to see Rowan again!" he repeated the incredible
words, "not see Rowan again!"

"She says we are to drop him from the list of our acquaintances."

"Ah!" he cried with impetuous sadness, "they must not quarrel!
They _must_ not!"

"But they _have_ quarrelled," she replied, revealing her own
anxiety. "Now they must be reconciled. That is why I come to
you. I am Isabel's guardian; you were Rowan's. Each of us wishes
this marriage. Isabel loves Rowan. I know that; therefore it is
not her fault. Therefore it is Rowan's fault. Therefore he has
said something or he has done something to offend her deeply.
Therefore if you do not know what this Is, you must find out. And
you must come and tell me. May I depend upon you?"

He had become grave. At length he said: "I shall go straight to
Rowan and ask him."

"No!" she cried, laying her hand heavily on his arm, "Isabel bound
me to secrecy. She does not wish this to be known."

"Ah!" he exclaimed, angry at being entrapped into a broken
confidence, "then Miss Isabel binds me also: I shall honor her