Dr. Breen's Practice

t was perfectly useless. They tested every corner for a breeze, but the wind had fallen dead, and the vast sw

the west," said Mrs. Frost, returning from an excurs

ain to-day," Mr

t Jocelyn's," Mrs. Scott observed, in

her explained, "except th

r discovery was rapidly superseded. The clouds mounted in the west, and there came a time when the ladies disputed whether they had heard thunder or not: a faction contended for the bowling alley, and another faction held for a wagon pas

n." On this it appeared that there were two minds as to whe

Breen, with the accent by which she impl

her window, looking seaward, and waiting

s Mrs. M

n't ba

een, "he really did

rned Grace, in

ked her mother, "tha

ble expanse of sea. It had already darkened at the verge, and the sails of some fish

," her mother continued, "I s

myself," Grace responded,

you think

l. "I wouldn't," she added, i

ed her, and she would not permit herself any respite when a little sail, which she knew for theirs, blew round the point. It seemed to fly along just on the hither side of that mural darkness, skilfully tacking to reach the end of the-reef before the wall pushed it on the rocks. Suddenly, the long low stretch of the reef broke into white foam, and then passed from sight under the black wall, against which the little sail still flickered. The girl fetched a long, silent breath. They were inside the reef, in comparatively smooth water, and to her i

d be you goin

nd sou'wester hat, kept pushing her forwa

n to meet them

along, then, if they ain't past doctorin' by the time they git ashore! Pretty well wrapped up, any w

inst the stair-case, and her gossamer clutching and clinging to every surface, and again twisting itself about her limbs, she clambered d

he screamed. "I wi

Barlow!" shouted one o

through the froth and swirl of the waves. She tried to free herself from Barlow, so

r a windin'-sheet!" he roared. "Don't you see the boat's driv

ked in reply. He answered her with a despairing grin and a shake

t 'em alive. Look how she slaps her boom int' the

the water as she rose and fell. A jagged line of red seamed the breast of the dark wall behind; a rending crash came, and as if fired upon, the boat flung up her sail, as a wild fowl flings up its wing when shot, and lay tossing keel up, on the top of the waves. It all looked scarcely a stone's cast away, though it was vastly farther

ough. I tell ye I see 'em!" he cried, at a wild look of doubt in her eyes. "Run to the house, there, and get everythi

through which the rain now hissed and shot. Barlow and one of the boat's crew were carrying Mrs. Maynard, and bringing up the rear of the huddling oil-skins and sou'westers came Libby, soaked, and dripping as he walked. His eyes and Grace's encountered with a mutual avoidance; but whatever was their sense of blame, their victim had no reproaches to make herself. She was not in need of restoration. She was perfectly alive, and apparently stimulated by her escape from deadly peril to a vivid conception of the wrong that had been done her. If the adventure had passed

, time for that, now. What had best be done, Miss

means," ans

protested, as Grace wrapped the blankets round h

tried the douche, and now you're to have the pack." He summoned two of the boatmen, who had been considerately dripping outside, in order to leave the interior to the shipwrecked company

were bitter as death in her proud soul. It was not in this shameful guise that she had foreseen the good she was to do. And it had all come through her own wilfulness and self-righteousness. The tears could mix unseen with the rain that dr

fully sorry for all this. Mrs. Maynard will be ashamed o

m responsible if anything happens to her,-I am to blame." She escaped from him, and ran into the house. H

e spoke of Mrs. Maynard, whom her universal toleration not only included in the mercy which the opinions of the other ladies de