. By the doctor's orders,
even the count's most intimate friends were refused admission, as
absolute quiet was needed.

Fergus dismounted at the gate, and walked up to the house. The maid
who opened the door recognized him at once.

"Will you come in, sir?" she said, with a beaming face. "I will
tell the young countess you are here; and she will, I am sure, see
you."

A minute later, the girl ran down the stairs. As she came forward
she stopped, with sudden shyness. Absorbed in her anxiety for her
father and mother, she had taken but little heed of the appearance
of the officer who had saved them. That he was kind as well as
brave she was sure for, although he had scarce spoken to her, the
gentleness with which he had moved her father and her mother from
the bloodstained room, and the promptness and decision with which
he had given his orders, had inspired her with absolute confidence
in him. She had a vague idea that he was young, but his face,
flecked here and there with blood, had left but a faint impression
upon her memory; and when she saw the young officer, in his
spotless and imposing uniform, she almost felt that there must be
some mistake.

"Are you Lieutenant Drummond, sir?" she asked timidly.

"I am, countess."

"Was it really you who saved us, the other night?"

"I had that good fortune," he said with a smile.

She took the hand he held out, wonderingly, and then suddenly burst
into tears.

"Oh, sir," she said, "is it possible that you, who look so young,
can be the one who came to our assistance, and killed those six
evil men? It seems impossible.

"I have been so unhappy, since. I did not know that you were
wounded until the maids told me, afterwards. I had never even
asked. I let you go, without one word of thanks for all that you
have done for us. What must you have thought of me?"

"I thought that you were a very courageous girl," Fergus said
earnestly; "and that, after what you had gone through, the sight of
your father as you believed dying, and your mother in such a state,
you were wonderfully calm and composed. It would have been strange,
indeed, had you thought of anything else at such a time."

"You are very good to say so, sir; but when I heard, from the
surgeons you sent, that you had fainted from loss of blood after
delivering your message, I felt that I should never forgive myself.
You had thought so much of us, and not of yourself. You had gone
about seeing to our comfort, a