Beatrice

sation between his wife and the assistant who had recovered him to life. So she was gone

did not enter. He was helping i

" Geoffrey asked feebly. "Did you

y rate, when they pulled her out of the water they

and my weight must have dragge

yet, not for certain.

other. Then aloud-"Leave me; I am all right. Go and help with

send a woman to wat

ed; but, as the doctor knew, life might still linger in the tissues. Slowly, very slowly, the body was turned to and fro, the head swaying, and the long hair falling now this way and

ey did, but this sudden death was awful. In a corner, pitiful to see, offering groans and ejaculated prayers to heaven, sat the old clergymen, their father, his white hair abou

ill be done. There must be another mistress at the school no

ather," said El

n't care. You never loved your sister. But I have loved her since she was a little fa

ly. The old man, making no reply, sank back into a s

t intermission t

d his weary frame and wiped the perspiration from his brow. "

If necessary I shall go on for

ybody knew that the task was

ently, starting back from the body and p

er sprang to their feet

essing his helper, and speaking in a constrained voice: "I tho

swered William

he doctor again. "It

hand stirred. Next moment the eyes were opened, and with pain and agony Beatrice drew a first breath of retu

d faintly. "I cannot be

octor; "you will b

her eyes that Beatrice wished to say something.

she whispered, "

e; he has been

h, half of pain, half of re

washed

d hold of him when they pulled you

k as much of the draught as she could, and shortly after

till at length it reached the ears of the solitary man crouched in the shadow of the pines. He heard, and starting as

said a woman, the same who had declared that

man, at any rate he did knock. Prese

her sharp voice; "the h

or, in a tone of deep humiliation. "I only wanted

s? I am sure I had no idea. Step into the passage and I w

brought them up.

d you have stood all this time in the wet night

wful, and-I-I take such an

comeliness. The skin was fresh as a child's, the eyes were large, blue, and mild, and the brown hair grew in waves that many a woman might have envied. Indeed had it not been for a short but strongly growing beard, it would have been easy to believe that the countenance was that of

abeth's scrutiny. "Naturally I take an interest in a neighbour's fa

so," answer

ak from him in a sigh of relief. "How did the ge

rug. "Beatrice saved his life somehow, clun

I never heard of such a

ng men I ever saw," answered E

married, I thin

ughter of a peer, very much marri

e understand,

then use your eyes whe

thing. I am not quick

ht, Mr. Davies? You cannot row back in this wind,

t hurt me, and I have had a chain put up to prevent anybody

ght, Mr.

ld you mind telling your sister-of course I mean whe

ies," Elizabeth said almost roughly. "I mean it wil

n to her sister," he thought to himself as he plunged into the night and rain. "Well, she is quite right-I am not fit to black her boots. Oh, God, I thank Thee that Thou hast saved her life. I than

ost prosperous slate quarries in Wales, worth in all somewhere between seven and ten thousand a year, was unfit to black her beautiful sister's boots,

empire back? What then? Owen Davies loved her sister; this she knew and had known for years. But would he not have got over it in time? Would he not in time have been overpowered by the sense of his own utter loneliness and given his hand, if not his heart, to some other woman? And could not she who held his hand learn to reach his heart? And to whom would that hand have been given, the hand and all that went with

le face. But she choked back the thought; she was scarcely wicked enough to wish that her sister had not been brought back to life. She only spec

be an open gate. She could not conceive it possible that a woman might positively reject Owen Davies and his seven or ten thousand a year, and that woman a person in an unsatisfactory and uncongenial, almost in a menial position. Reject Bryngelly Castle with all its luxury and

ront?" he asked, caref

f Bryngelly C

want at this time of nigh

ice, or to be more correct he has been waiting outside

n," said the clergyman astonished-"Squire D

about Beatrice and did not

! Do you think, Elizabeth-um-you know there is no doubt

they are a matter of opinion. I have mine. And now don't you think we had better go to

at a merciful deliverance! And if poor Beatrice had gone the parish must have found another schoolmistre

beth, very delibe