. Presently she heard another sound--the
tap, tap of a horse's hoofs. Her quick ear distinguished it as different
from the slow pacing of the horses which drew the village carts, and she
looked up the road curiously. It was not the doctor's horse; she knew
the stamp, stamp of his old gray cob. This was a lighter, more nervous
tread.

Within twenty paces of the cottage she saw the horse and horseman. The
former was a beautiful creature, almost thoroughbred, as she knew; for
every woman in the district was a horsewoman by instinct and
association. The latter was a gentleman in a well-made riding suit of
cords. He was riding slowly, his whip striking against his leg absently,
his head bent.

That he was not one of the local gentry Nell saw at the first glance. In
that first glance also she noted a certain indescribable grace, an air
of elegance, which, as a rule, was certainly lacking in the local
gentry. She could not see his face, but there was something strange,
distinguished in his attitude and the way he carried himself; and,
almost unconsciously, her pace slackened.

Strangers in Shorne Mills were rare. Nell, being a woman, was curious.
As she slowly reached the gate, the man came almost alongside. And at
that moment a rabbit scuttled across the road, right under the horse's
nose. With the nervousness of the thoroughbred, it shied. The man had it
in hand in an instant, and touched it with his left spur to keep it away
from the girl. The horse sprang sideways, set its near foot on a stone,
and fell, and the next instant the man was lying at Nell's feet.

CHAPTER II.

For a moment Nell was too startled to do anything but cry out; then, as
the man did not move, she knelt beside him, and still calling for Molly,
almost unconsciously raised his head. He had fallen on his side, but had
turned over in the instant before losing consciousness; and as Nell
lifted his head she felt something wet trickle over her hand, and knew
that it was blood.

She was very much frightened--with the exception of Dick's boyish falls
and cuts, it was the first accident at which she had "assisted"--and she
had never longed for any one as she longed for Molly. But neither Molly
nor any one else came, and Nell, in a helpless, dazed kind of fashion,
wiped the blood from the wound.

Then suddenly she thought of water, and setting his head down as gently
as she could, she ran to the stream, saturated her handkerchief, and,
returning,