y and virtuously,
shaking her head. "He had not the principles I require in a man. But--I
felt sorry for him."

Oh, ineffable Valerias! what would life be without you?

Dexter had been the one to offer his arm to Anne when she felt able to
go down the hill. At the main-road crossing they found the Reverend Mr.
Sloane faithfully sitting on a dusty bank, with the orchid in his hand,
waiting for them. It seemed to Anne that a long and vague period of time
had passed since they parted from him. But she was glad to get the
orchid; she knew that no slight extraneous affair, such as the saving of
a life, would excuse the absence of that flower. Rachel Bannert had
chafed Heathcote's strained arm with her soft hands, and arranged a
sling for it made of her sash. She accompanied him back to the picnic
ground. It was worth while to have a strained arm.

Miss Vanhorn considered that it was all nonsense, and was inclined to
reprove her niece. But she had the orchid; and when Dexter came up, and
in a few strong words expressed his admiration for the young girl's
courage, she changed her mind, and agreed with him, although regretting
"the display."

"Girls like that Morle should be manacled," she said.

"And I, for one, congratulate myself that there was, as you call it, a
display--a display of the finest resolution I have ever seen in a young
girl," said Dexter, warmly. "Miss Douglas was not even sure that the
little tree was firm; and of course she could not tell how long it would
take us to come."

"They all assisted, I understand," said Miss Vanhorn, impassively.

"They all assisted _afterward_. But not one of them would have taken her
place. Miss Morle seized her wrist immediately, and with the grasp of a
vise. They must inevitably have gone over together."

"Well, well; that is enough, I think," said Miss Vanhorn. "We will drive
home now," she added, giving her orders as though both the carriage and
its owner were her own property.

When she had been assisted into her place, and Anne had taken her seat
beside her, Heathcote, who had not spoken to his fellow-rescuer since
they reached level ground, came forward to the carriage door, with his
arm in its ribbon sling, and offered his hand. He said only a word or
two; but, as his eyes met hers, Anne blushed--blushed suddenly and
vividly. She was realizing for the first time how she must have looked
to him, hanging in her cramped position, with crimson face and wild
fallin