ly, madam,
you did not remain out in the storm? You have not been on the river all
this time?"

"I have been in the depths of the river, I believe!" answered Mabel.
"The boat was upset--I was dashed beneath the wheels of a steamer, but
for--" She hesitated, and a red flush shot over her face; the noble
woman recovered herself in an instant, "but for James, and Ben Benson."

An answering flush came to the general's cheek. He darted a quick glance
at James.

"And how came Mr. Harrington so near you, madam? They told me you had
gone upon the river alone."

"And so she did," answered James, stepping forward. "I saw her put out
from the shore, apparently unconscious of the coming storm, and followed
the course of her boat."

"Why did you not warn her, sir?"

"I did, more than once at the top of my voice, but the wind was against
me!"

"And where did all this happen?" inquired the general, more interested
than he had been.

"Near a ravine, some distance down the stream. You will not perhaps be
able to recognize the place, sir," answered Mabel, "but it is nearly
opposite the small house in which Miss Barker resides with her mother."

The general did not start, but a strange expression crept over his
features, as if he were becoming more interested and less pleased.

"May I ask you what took you in that direction, madam?"

"Nothing better than a caprice, I fear," answered Mabel; "at first I
went out for exercise and solitude, then remembering Miss Barker, I put
on shore."

"Surely you did not go to that house!" cried the general, interrupting
her almost for the first time in his life.

"Yes, I went," answered Mabel with simplicity.

"Indeed! and what did you find--whom did you see?"

"I saw a dusky woman, rude and insolent, who called herself Agnes
Barker's nurse--nothing more."

"So you found an insolent woman."

"A very disagreeable one, at least, General Harrington, but I am faint
and ill--permit me to answer all farther questions to-morrow!"

General Harrington's manner imperceptibly changed; he no longer enforced
abrupt questions upon the exhausted lady, but with a show of gallant
attention, stepped forward and drew her arm through his.

"You can go to your rooms, young men," he said, "I will attend Mrs.
Harrington."

"Shall I have Lina called, mother?" said Ralph, following his parents,
"she did not know of your absence, and I would not terrify her!"

Before Mabel could speak, the general answe