to the truth. This was
no accident."

"I am afraid not," said Raby. "She knows the water as well as I do, and
she picked out the deepest hole: poor girl! poor girl"

He then asked Amboyne in a whisper what he thought she would do when she
came to her senses.

"Impossible to say. She may be violent, and if so we shall have enough
to do to hold her. They tell me she threw that workman like a sack."

At this moment Jael stretched her great arms and sighed. The movement,
though gentle and feminine, had a grandeur and freedom that only goes
with power.

The doctor lowered his voice to a whisper. "She is a good Christian, and
most likely she will be penitent, and then she will cry her heart out.
Any way, she is pretty sure to be hysterical, so mind and be firm as
well as kind. There, her color is coming back. Now put yourself in her
place. You and I must call this an accident. Stick to that through thick
and thin. Ah, she is coming round safe. She shall see you first. You
take her right hand, and look at her with all the pity and kindness I am
sure you feel."

Mr. Raby took Jael's hand in both his, and fixed his eyes on her with
pity and anxiety.

She came to her senses, and stared at him a long time.

Then she looked down at her wet clothes. Then she snatched her hand
away, and covered her face with both hands, and began to rock and moan,
and finally turned round and hid her face against the very floor as if
she would grovel and burrow into it.

"Are you better, my dear?" said the doctor, quietly.

No reply. And the face still crushed against the floor.

"The next time you faint away, don't let it be on the banks of a river.
You have been going too long without food; and you fainted away and
fell into the river. Luckily it was not very deep or it might have been
serious. You have given us a fine fright, I can tell you."

While these words were being uttered, Jael, who did not miss a syllable,
began to look very, very slowly round with scared and troubled eyes, and
to defend herself. "I remember naught," said she, doggedly. "Who took me
out?"

"Mr. Raby."

She looked timidly at him, and saw his wet clothes.

"Oh, squire, why did you spoil your clothes for me?" and she laid her
head on his knee and began to cry.

"My clothes!" said Raby. "The girl wants to break my heart."

"Eh, dear! and I've spoiled the beautiful carpet," said Jael, piteously.

"D--n the carpet!" said Raby, nearly blubbering.

All t