d men, who were sorry for her,
and who could protect her; but now at last the instinct of her womanhood
seized upon the unfortunate creature. She had made an involuntary rush
towards him when she saw him first. Then she stopped short, and looked
all round her with a bewildered sudden consciousness. The blood rushed
to her face, scorching and burning; she uttered a sudden cry of anguish
and shame. "Oh, don't forsake me!--don't forsake me!--listen to the
gentlemen!" cried poor Rosa, and fell down in a sudden agony of
self-comprehension at Wodehouse's feet.

For a few minutes after there was nothing but confusion in the room.
Elsworthy had been standing behind backs, with a half-fiendish look of
rage and disappointment on his commonplace features. "Let them help her
as likes; I washes my hands of her," he cried bitterly, when he saw her
fall; and then rushed into the midst of the room, thrusting the others
out of his way. The man was beside himself with mortification, with
disgust, and fury, and at the same time with a savage natural affection
for the creature who had baffled and disgraced him, yet still was his
own. "Let alone--let alone, I tell you! There's nobody as belongs to her
but me!" cried Elsworthy, pushing up against the Doctor, who had lifted
her from the ground. As for Wodehouse, he was standing scowling down
upon the pretty figure at his feet: not that the vagabond was utterly
heartless, or could look at his victim without emotion; on the contrary,
he was pale with terror, thinking he had killed her, wondering in his
miserable heart if they would secure him at once, and furtively watching
the door to see if he had a chance of escape. When Mr Waters seized his
arm, Wodehouse gave a hoarse outcry of horror. "I'll marry her--oh,
Lord, I'll marry her! I never meant anything else," the wretched man
cried, as he sank back again into his chair. He thought she was dead, as
she lay with her upturned face on the carpet, and in his terror and
remorse and cowardice his heart seemed to stop beating. If he could have
had a chance of escaping, he would not have hesitated to dash the old
Doctor out of his way, and rush over the body of the unhappy girl whom
he thought he had murdered. But Waters held him fast; and he sank back,
panting and horrified, on his seat. "I never touched her; nobody can say
I touched her," muttered the poor wretch to himself; and watched with
fascinated eyes and the distinct apprehension of terror ev