ss did not return
completely. In falling, he had struck his head against a jagged piece of
carving on the pulpit rails, and there was an ugly wound in his temple.

Netty had already fled home from the church, and Dick, quite unconscious
of the progress of affairs, was upstairs, quietly reading in snatches,
and dreaming of Dora--dreams that were interspersed with misgivings and a
shuddering fear of the future. In his present state of health, the
prospect of jail did not seem so amusing as he had pretended to Dora.

Netty came rushing up to him with the news of what had happened in the
church. He was deeply agitated, though not so astonished as his sister.
The awakening of his father's conscience had always been an eventuality
to be reckoned with; and the awakening had come.

They carried the rector into his home, and he was put to bed by the
physicians. Mary, feeling that she was banned and shunned, shut herself
up in her room, a prey to a hundred different emotions. Terror was the
dominant one. Those dreadful, rough-spoken men, who had come to arrest
Dick, would soon be arriving to take her away.

She commenced to pack a trunk. Flight was the only thing possible under
the circumstances.

CHAPTER XXX

FLIGHT

Everybody supposed Mrs. Swinton to be locked in her room. The rector was
attended by his daughter and the physicians, and lay in a state of
collapse for many hours, causing considerable anxiety to the household;
but, toward midnight, he rallied and asked for his wife.

Visitors were forbidden. The presence of Mrs. Swinton was not likely to
have a soothing effect, and all emotion must be avoided. Nevertheless,
under the peculiar circumstances, the physicians decided that she should
be told of his asking for her, although she was not to be allowed to
enter the sickroom.

Netty, in tears, crept upstairs to her mother's room, and knocked softly.
There was no answer. Examination showed that the place was empty. The
erring wife had fled, and no one knew whither--except Dick.

The young man's position was extremely painful. Unable to do anything,
with scarcely strength enough to rise from his couch, he lay in torment.
His mother had rushed into his room in a highly hysterical state, and
announced her intention of fleeing before the consequences of her
husband's public confession could culminate in arrest. In vain, the young
man implored her to remain and face it out, and comfort the rector. It
was impos