ault. As a matter of fact, Browne's reason for leaving his guests
to pursue their walk alone was an eminently simple one. He strolled
down to the boat which had brought them ashore, and, having despatched
it with a message to the yacht, resumed his walk, hoping to overtake
his party before they reached the waterfall. Unfortunately, however, a
thick mist was descending upon the mountain, shutting out the landscape
as completely as if a curtain had been drawn before it. At first he
was inclined to treat the matter as of small moment; and, leaving the
road, he continued his walk in the belief that it would soon pass off.
Stepping warily--for mountain paths in Norway are not to be treated
with disrespect--he pushed on for upwards of a quarter of an hour,
feeling sure he must be near his destination, and wondering why he did
not hear the voices of his friends or the thunder of the fall. At last
he stopped. The mist was thicker than ever, and a fine but penetrating
rain was falling. Browne was still wondering what Miss Verney's
feelings would be, supposing she were condemned to pass the night on
the hillside, when he heard a little cry proceeding from a spot, as he
supposed, a few yards ahead of him. The voice was a woman's, and the
ejaculation was one of pain. Hearing it, Browne moved forward again in
the hope of discovering whence it proceeded and what had occasioned it.
Search how he would, however, he could see nothing of the person who
had given utterance to it. At last, in despair, he stood still and
called, and in reply a voice answered in English, "Help me; help me,
please."

"Where are you?" Browne inquired in the same language; "and what is the
matter?"

"I am down here," the voice replied; "and I am afraid I have sprained
my ankle. I have fallen and cannot get up."

Browne has since confessed that it was the voice that did it. The
accent, however, was scarcely that of an Englishwoman.

"Are you on a path or on the hillside?" he inquired, after he had
vainly endeavoured to locate her position.

"I am on the hillside," she replied. "The fog was so thick that I
could not see my way, and I slipped on the bank and rolled down,
twisting my foot under me."

"Well, if you will try to guide me, I will do all in my power to help
you," said Browne; and as he said it he moved carefully towards the
spot whence he imagined the voice proceeded. From the feel of the
ground under his feet he could tell that he