he carriage as soon as the team started."

"That isn't so," replied the aristocratic bully, glibly. "I didn't jump at
all."

"You didn't."

"No, I was pitched out. I stood up to get a better hold on the reins, and
just then the carriage lurched, and out I went."

"Oh, well, then, that's different," replied Dan Pickley, who did not think
it to his advantage to question the veracity of Percy's explanation. "Mrs.
Carrington seemed to think you had jumped out because you were scared."

"And did her daughter seem to think so, too?" asked Percy, his anxiety
increasing.

"I don't know but what she did. You had better hunt them up and explain
matters."

"I will. I suppose the reason they didn't come back for me is because they
were in a hurry to get to Eastport and see Mr. Carrington before he went
off to Chambersburgh."

"They didn't say what they were in a hurry about," returned Dan Pickley.

Percy saw that Ralph was now approaching, and not wishing, for various
reasons, to encounter the young bridge tender while in such a woe-begone
condition, he turned on his heel and walked back toward Westville.

Ralph could not help but laugh at the discomfiture of the young bully. He
had overheard a good part of the conversation, and he was satisfied that
Percy was, for once at least, more than "taken down."

On the other hand, Percy was greatly chagrined to learn that Ralph had
played the part of the hero. His face drew dark, and his eyes flashed their
bitter hatred.

"It's too bad, that low upstart to stop the team!" he muttered to himself.
"I wonder if Julia Carrington spoke to him? Most likely she did, and now
he'll look at her as a special friend! It's a great shame! I'll have to
teach him his place if he tries to get too intimate with her!"

All of which went to prove that Percy's hopes in the direction of Julia
were more than of the ordinary kind.

Percy would have been more bitter than ever could he have witnessed the
scene in the Nelson cottage that evening, shortly after eight o'clock.

Five minutes before that time Ralph was sitting in the kitchen, telling his
mother of the stirring event of the day, to which the fond parent listened
with keen interest.

The son had just finished when there came a timid knock at the front door.

"Somebody's knocking, Ralph," said Mrs. Nelson. "Go and light the
sitting-room lamp and see who it is."

Ralph lit the lamp, and then opened the door. Before him stood Mrs.
Carri