ce."

Thus urged, five or six sturdy labourers, who had been standing round,
gazing with countenances of rude but sincere commiseration on the
wounded man (for Harry's kind-heartedness and liberality made him
very popular amongst the tenantry), started off, and returned in an
incredibly short space of time with the gate; upon this were spread our
coats and waistcoats, so as to form a tolerably convenient couch, upon
which, under Ellis's direction, we lifted with the greatest caution the
still insensible form of Harry Oaklands.

"Now," exclaimed Ellis, "raise him very slowly on your shoulders, and
take care to step together, so as not to jolt him;--if the bleeding
should break out again, the whole College of Surgeons could not save
him. Where's the nearest house he can be taken to? He'll never last out
till we reach the Hall."

"Take him to our cottage," said I eagerly; "it is more than half a mile
nearer than the Hall."

"But your mother and sister?" asked Archer.

"Of course it will be a great shock to them," replied I; "but I know
them both well enough to feel sure they would not hesitate a moment when
Harry's life was in ~219~~the balance. Do you want me for anything, or
shall I go on and prepare them for your arrival?"

"Do so, by all means," replied Ellis; "but stay--have you a bedroom on
the ground-floor?"

"Yes," returned I, "my own."

"Get the bed-clothes open," continued Ellis, "so that we can put him in
at once; it will save me half an hour's time afterwards, and is a thing
which should always be thought of on these occasions."

"Anything else?" inquired I.

"Yes, send somebody for the nearest surgeon; two heads are better than
one," said Ellis.

Remembering, as I approached the cottage, that the window of my room
by which Archer and I had quitted it the previous night would be
unfastened, I determined I would enter there, and, proceeding to my
mother's door, call her up, and break the news as gently as the exigency
of the case would permit, leaving her to act by Fanny as she should
think best. Accordingly, I flung up the window, sprang in, and, throwing
myself on the nearest chair, sat for a moment, panting from the speed
at which I had come. As I did so, a timid knock was heard at the door. I
instinctively cried, "Come in!" and Fanny entered.

"I have been so anxious all night about what you told me yesterday, that
I could not sleep, so I thought I would come to see if you were up," she
comme