came to her side. "Zoe," he said, "can't you go to Miss
Deane?"

"What for?" she asked, without turning her head to look at him.

"To show your kind feeling."

"I'm not sure that I have any."

"Zoe! I am shocked! She is in great pain."

"She has plenty of helpers about her,--Christine, Aunt Dicey, and a
servant-maid or two,--who will do all they can to relieve her. If I
could do any thing more, I would; but I can't, and should only be in the
way. You forget what a mere child you have always considered me, and
that I have had no experience in nursing."

"It isn't nursing, I am asking you to give her, but a little kindly
sympathy."

A carriage was coming swiftly up the avenue.

"There's the doctor," said Zoe. "You'd better consult with him about his
patient; and, if he thinks my presence in her room will hasten her
recovery, she shall have all I can give her of it, that we may get her
out of the house as soon as possible."

"Zoe! I had no idea you could be so heartless," he said, with much
displeasure, as he turned and left the room.

Zoe remained where she was, shedding some tears of mingled anger and
grief, then hastily endeavoring to remove their traces; for Arthur would
be sure to step into the parlor, to see her before leaving, if it were
but for a moment.

She had barely recovered her composure when he came in, having found his
patient not in need of a lengthened visit.

His face was bright, his tone cheery and kind, as he bade her
good-morning, and asked after her health.

"I'm very well, thank you," she said, giving him her hand. "Is Miss
Deane's accident a very bad one?"

"It is a severe sprain," he said: "she will not be able to bear her
weight upon that ankle for six weeks." Then seeing Zoe's look of dismay,
shrewdly guessing at the cause, he hastened to add, "But she might be
sent home in an ambulance a few days hence, without the least injury."

Zoe looked greatly relieved, Edward scarcely less so.

"I can't understand how she came to fall," remarked Arthur reflectively.

"Nor I," said Zoe. "Wouldn't it be well for you to advise her never to
set foot on that dangerous veranda again?"

Arthur smiled. "That would be a waste of breath," he said, "while Ion is
so delightful a place to visit."

"How are they all at Viamede?" he asked, turning to Edward.

"Quite well at last accounts, thank you," Edward replied, adding, with a
slight sigh, "I wish they were here,--my mother at least, if non