ramatic horrors.

Grace had returned, and the fly hired on her account, though not by her
husband, at the Crown Hotel, Shottsford-Forum, had been paid for and
dismissed. The long drive had somewhat revived her, her illness being
a feverish intermittent nervousness which had more to do with mind than
body, and she walked about her sitting-room in something of a hopeful
mood. Mrs. Melbury had told her as soon as she arrived that her
husband had returned from London. He had gone out, she said, to see a
patient, as she supposed, and he must soon be back, since he had had no
dinner or tea. Grace would not allow her mind to harbor any suspicion
of his whereabouts, and her step-mother said nothing of Mrs. Charmond's
rumored sorrows and plans of departure.

So the young wife sat by the fire, waiting silently. She had left
Hintock in a turmoil of feeling after the revelation of Mrs. Charmond,
and had intended not to be at home when her husband returned. But she
had thought the matter over, and had allowed her father's influence to
prevail and bring her back; and now somewhat regretted that Edgar's
arrival had preceded hers.

By-and-by Mrs. Melbury came up-stairs with a slight air of flurry and
abruptness.

"I have something to tell--some bad news," she said. "But you must not
be alarmed, as it is not so bad as it might have been. Edgar has been
thrown off his horse. We don't think he is hurt much. It happened in
the wood the other side of Nellcombe Bottom, where 'tis said the ghosts
of the brothers walk."

She went on to give a few of the particulars, but none of the invented
horrors that had been communicated by the boy. "I thought it better to
tell you at once," she added, "in case he should not be very well able
to walk home, and somebody should bring him."

Mrs. Melbury really thought matters much worse than she represented,
and Grace knew that she thought so. She sat down dazed for a few
minutes, returning a negative to her step-mother's inquiry if she could
do anything for her. "But please go into the bedroom," Grace said, on
second thoughts, "and see if all is ready there--in case it is
serious." Mrs. Melbury thereupon called Grammer, and they did as
directed, supplying the room with everything they could think of for
the accommodation of an injured man.

Nobody was left in the lower part of the house. Not many minutes
passed when Grace heard a knock at the door--a single knock, not loud
enough to re